A bishop administering Confirmation. Rogier van der Weyden, The Seven Sacraments, 15th century.

Confirmation is a rite of initiation in Christian churches,(although in the Church of England and similar denominations it can be simply viewed as a reinstating of one's beliefs) normally carried out through anointing and/or the laying on of hands and prayer for the purpose of bestowing the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

There is an analogous ceremony also called confirmation in Reform Judaism, the most theologically liberal denomination within Judaism.

Within Christianity, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant made in Holy Baptism. In some denominations, confirmation also bestows full membership in a local congregation upon the recipient. In others, such as the Roman Catholic Church, confirmation "renders the bond with the Church more perfect",^[1] because a baptized person is already a full member.^[2]

Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and many Anglicans view Confirmation as a sacrament. In the East it is conferred immediately after baptism. In the West, this practice is followed when adults are baptized, but in the case of infants not in danger of death it is administered, ordinarily by a bishop, only when the child reaches the age of reason or early adolescence. Among those Catholics who practice teen-aged confirmation, the practice may be perceived, secondarily, as a "coming of age" rite.^[3][4]

In Protestant churches, the rite tends to be seen rather as a mature statement of faith by an already baptised person. It is also required by most Protestant denominations for membership in the respective church, in particular for traditional Protestant churches. In traditional Protestant churches (Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran etc.) it is recognized by a coming of age ceremony.^{[citation needed]} Confirmation is not practised in Baptist, Anabaptist and other groups that teach believer's baptism.

Scriptural foundation[link]

The roots of confirmation are found in the New Testament. For instance, in the Acts of the Apostles 8:14–17:

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit.

Also, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, Christ speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (John 14:15–26). Later, after his Resurrection, Jesus breathed upon them and they received the Holy Spirit (John 20:22), a process completed on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4). After this point, the New Testament records the apostles bestowing the Holy Spirit upon others through the laying on of hands.

Roman Catholic view[link]

German wood cut depicting Confirmation service (1679).

In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, Confirmation, known also as Chrismation,^[5] is one of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ for the conferral of sanctifying grace and the strengthening of the union between individual souls and God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church in its paragraphs 1302–1303 states:

It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:

• it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15);
• it unites us more firmly to Christ;
• it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
• it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;
• it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross:

Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.

In the Latin-Rite (i.e., Western) Catholic Church, the sacrament is customarily conferred only on persons old enough to understand it, and the ordinary minister of confirmation is a bishop. "If necessity so requires", the diocesan bishop may grant specified priests the faculty to administer the sacrament, although normally he is to administer it himself or ensure that that it is conferred by another bishop.^[6] In addition, the law itself confers the same faculty on the following:

• within the confines of their jurisdiction, those who in law are equivalent to a diocesan Bishop (for example, a vicar apostolic);
• in respect of the person to be confirmed, the priest who by virtue of his office or by mandate of the diocesan Bishop baptises an adult or admits a baptised adult into full communion with the catholic Church;
• in respect of those in danger of death, the parish priest or indeed any priest.^[7]

"According to the ancient practice maintained in the Roman liturgy, an adult is not to be baptized unless he receives confirmation immediately afterward, provided no serious obstacles exist."^[8] Administration of the two sacraments, one immediately after the other, to adults is normally done by the bishop of the diocese (generally at the Easter Vigil, since "the baptism of adults, at least of those who have completed their fourteenth year, is to be referred to the Bishop, so that he himself may confer it if he judges this appropriate"^[9] But if the bishop does not confer the baptism, then it devolves on the priest whose office it then is to confer both sacraments, since, "in addition to the bishop, the law gives the faculty to confirm to the following ... priests who, in virtue of an office which they lawfully hold, baptize an adult or a child old enough for catechesis or receive a validly baptized adult into full communion with the Church ..."^[10]

In Eastern Catholic Churches, the usual minister of this sacrament is the parish priest, using olive oil consecrated by a bishop (i.e., chrism), and administering the sacrament immediately after baptism. This corresponds exactly to the practice of the early Church, when at first those receiving baptism were mainly adults, and of the non-Catholic Eastern Churches.

The practice of the Eastern Churches gives greater emphasis to the unity of Christian initiation. That of the Latin Church more clearly expresses the communion of the new Christian with the bishop as guarantor and servant of the unity, catholicity and apostolicity of his Church, and hence the connection with the apostolic origins of Christ's Church.^[11]

Rite of Confirmation in the West[link]

The main reason why the West separated the sacrament of Confirmation from that of Baptism was to re-establish direct contact between the person being initiated with the bishops. In the Early Church, the bishop administered all three sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist), assisted by the priests and deacons and, where they existed, by deaconesses for women's Baptism. The post-baptismal chrismation in particular was reserved to the Bishop. When adults no longer formed the majority of those being baptised, this chrismation was delayed until the bishop could confer it. Until the 12th century, priests often continued to confer Confirmation before giving Communion to very young children.^[12]

After the Fourth Lateran Council, Communion, which continued to be given only after Confirmation, was to be administered only on reaching the age of reason. Some time after the 13th century, the age of Confirmation and Communion began to be delayed further, from seven, to twelve and to fifteen.^[13] The 1917 Code of Canon Law, while recommending that Confirmation be delayed until about seven years of age, allowed it be given at an earlier age.^[14] Only on 30 June 1932 was official permission given to change the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation: the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments then allowed, where necessary, that Confirmation be administered after first Holy Communion. This novelty, originally seen as exceptional, became more and more the accepted practice. Thus, in the mid-twentieth century, Confirmation began to be seen as an occasion for professing personal commitment to the faith on the part of someone approaching adulthood.

However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1308 warns: "Although Confirmation is sometimes called the 'sacrament of Christian maturity,' we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need 'ratification' to become effective."^[15]

On the canonical age for confirmation in the Latin or Western Catholic Church, the present (1983) Code of Canon Law, which maintains unaltered the rule in the 1917 Code, lays down that the sacrament is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of discretion (generally taken to be about 7), unless the Episcopal Conference has decided on a different age, or there is a danger of death or, in the judgement of the minister, a grave reason suggests otherwise (canon 891 of the Code of Canon Law). The Code prescribes the age of discretion also for the sacraments of Penance^[16] and first Holy Communion.^[17]

In some places the setting of a later age, e.g. mid-teens in the United States, early teens in Ireland and Britain, has been abandoned in recent decades in favour of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation,^{[18][19][20][21]} although in some countries, such as the United States, the general tendency has been in the opposite direction.^[22][23] Even where a later age has been set, a bishop may not refuse to confer the sacrament on younger children who request it, provided they are baptized, have the use of reason, are suitably instructed and are properly disposed and able to renew the baptismal promises (letter of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published in its 1999 bulletin, pages 537–540).

Effects of confirmation[link]

The Roman Catholic Church and some Anglo-Catholics teach that, like baptism, confirmation marks the recipient permanently, making it impossible to receive the sacrament twice. It accepts as valid a confirmation conferred within churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, whose Holy Orders it sees as valid through the apostolic succession of their bishops. But it considers it necessary to administer the sacrament of confirmation, in its view for the only time, to Protestants who are admitted to full communion with the Catholic Church.

One of the effects of the sacrament is that "it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1303).^[24] This effect has been described as making the confirmed person "a soldier of Christ".^[25]

The same passage of the Catechism of the Catholic Church also mentions, as an effect of confirmation, that "it renders our bond with the Church more perfect". This mention stresses the importance of participation in the Christian community.

The "soldier of Christ" imagery was used, as far back as 350, by St Cyril of Jerusalem.^[26] In this connection, the touch on the cheek that the bishop gave while saying "Pax tecum" (Peace be with you) to the person he had just confirmed was interpreted in the Roman Pontifical as a slap, a reminder to be brave in spreading and defending the faith: "Deinde leviter eum in maxilla caedit, dicens: Pax tecum" (Then he strikes him lightly on the cheek, saying: Peace be with you). When, in application of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,^[27] the confirmation rite was revised in 1971, mention of this gesture was omitted. However, the French and Italian translations, indicating that the bishop should accompany the words "Peace be with you" with "a friendly gesture" (French text) or "the sign of peace" (Italian text), explicitly allow a gesture such as the touch on the cheek, to which they restore its original meaning. This is in accord with the Introduction to the Rite of Confirmation, 17, which indicates that the episcopal conference may decide "to introduce a different manner for the minister to give the sign of peace after the anointing, either to each individual or to all the newly confirmed together."

Confirmation name[link]

In many English-speaking and other countries, it is customary for a person being confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church (and some Anglican dioceses) to adopt a new name, generally the name of a saint, thus securing an additional patron saint as protector and guide. This practice is unknown in many other countries (including the Spanish- and French-speaking lands, and in Italy), and is not mentioned in the official liturgical book of the Rite of Confirmation. Although some insist on the custom,^[28] it is discouraged by others and in any case is only a secondary aspect of confirmation.^[29]

As indicated by the different senses of the word "christening", baptism and the giving of a personal name have traditionally been linked. At confirmation, in which the intervention of a godparent strengthens a resemblance with baptism, it became customary to take a new name, as was also the custom on other occasions, in particular that of religious profession. King Henry III of France (1551–1589) was christened Edouard Alexandre in 1551, but at confirmation received the name Henri, by which he afterwards reigned. Today usually no great use is made of the confirmation name, although some treat it as a new middle name. However, even after the English Reformation, the legal system of that country admitted the lawfulness of using one's confirmation name in, for instance, purchasing land.^[30]

Orthodox views[link]

The Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches refer to this sacrament (or, more properly, Sacred Mystery) as Chrismation, a term which Roman Catholics also use; for instance, in Italian the term is cresima. Eastern Christians link Chrismation closely with the Sacred Mystery of Baptism, conferring it immediately after baptism, which is normally on infants.

The Sacred Tradition of the Orthodox Church teaches that the Apostles themselves established the practice of anointing with chrism in place of the laying on of hands when bestowing the sacrament. As the numbers of converts grew, it became physically impossible for the apostles to lay hands upon each of the newly baptized. So the Apostles laid hands upon a vessel of oil, bestowing the Holy Spirit upon it, which was then distributed to all of the presbyters (priests) for their use when they baptized.^[31] This same chrism is in use to this day, never being completely depleted but newly consecrated chrism only being added to it as needed (this consecration traditionally is performed only by the primates of certain autocephalous churches on Great Thursday) and it is believed that chrism in use today contains some small amount of the original chrism made by the apostles.

When Roman Catholics (and some Protestants) convert to Orthodoxy, they are often admitted by Chrismation, without baptism; but, since this is a matter of local episcopal discretion, a bishop may require all converts to be admitted by baptism if he deems it necessary. Depending upon the form of the original baptism, some Protestants must be baptized upon conversion to Orthodoxy. A common practice is that those persons who have been previously baptized by triple immersion in the name of the Trinity do not need to be baptized. However, requirements will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and some traditional Orthodox jurisdictions prefer to baptize all converts. When a person is received into the church, whether by Baptism or Chrismation, they will often take the name of a saint, who will become their patron saint. Thenceforward, the feast day of that saint will be celebrated as the convert's name day, which in traditional Orthodox cultures is celebrated in lieu of one's birthday.

The Orthodox rite of Chrismation takes place immediately after baptism and clothing the "newly illumined" (i.e., newly baptized) in their baptismal robe. The priest makes the sign of the cross with the chrism (also referred to as Myrrh) on the brow, eyes, nostrils, lips, both ears, breast, hands and feet of the newly illumined, saying with each anointing: "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen." Then the priest will place his epitrachelion (stole) over the newly illumined and leads them and their sponsors in a procession, circling three times around the Gospel Book, while the choir chants each time: "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia" (Galatians 3:27).

The reason the Eastern Churches perform Chrismation immediately after Baptism is so that the newly baptized may receive Holy Communion, which is commonly given to infants as well as adults.

An individual may be baptized in extremis (in a life-threatening emergency) by any baptized member of the church; however, only a priest or bishop may perform the Mystery of Chrismation. If someone who has been baptized in extremis survives, the priest then performs the Chrismation.

The Roman Catholic Church does not confirm converts to Catholicism who have been Chrismated in an Eastern church, considering that the sacrament has been validly conferred and may not be repeated.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church the sacrament may be conferred more than once and it is customary to receive apostates by repeating Chrismation.^[32][33]

Anglican view[link]

The 16th Century Thirty-Nine Articles list confirmation among those rites "commonly called Sacraments" which are "not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel" (a term meaning Baptism and the Holy Eucharist), as they were not directly instituted by Christ with a specific matter and form, and they are not generally necessary to salvation.^[34] The language of the Articles has led some to deny that confirmation and the other rites are sacraments at all; however, "commonly called Sacraments" does not mean "wrongly called Sacraments". Today, many Anglicans, especially Anglo-Catholics, count it as one of seven sacraments. This is the official view in several Anglican Provinces. Anglicans are unique in Christianity in that only bishops may administer confirmation, unlike the Roman Catholic Church where, in the Latin Rite, confirmation conferred by a priest is valid "if he has the faculty to do so, either from the general law or by way of a special grant from the competent authority",^[35] and, in the Eastern Rites, confirmation is usually administered by a priest immediately after baptism, as is the practice also of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The renewal of the baptismal vows, which is part of the Anglican confirmation service, is in no way necessary to confirmation and can be done more than once. The unfortunate phrase 'ratify and confirm' applied to the vows since 1552 (but altered in the 1928 revision to 'ratify and confess') has led to the common error that confirmation is merely the renewal of baptismal vows. (If it were, there would be no need for the presence of a bishop.) When confirmation is given early, candidates may be asked to make a fresh renewal of vows when they approach adult life at about eighteen."^[36] Anglican doctrine thus differs from Lutheran. In Anglicanism, the patron saint of Confirmation is St. Uriel the Archangel.

Protestant views[link]

A girl is blessed by the priest during her confirmation in the Norwegian state church.

Some Protestant churches call confirmation a rite, not a sacrament, and see it as merely symbolic, not an effective means of conferring divine grace. Protestant groups in which baptism in the early teens is the norm often have no confirmation. The Roman Catholic Church confirms converts from Protestantism, not recognizing their Protestant confirmations as sacramentally valid.

Lutheran view[link]

Lutheran confirmation is a public profession of faith prepared for by long and careful instruction. In English, it is called "affirmation of baptism", and is a mature and public profession of the faith which "marks the completion of the congregation's program of confirmation ministry".^[37] The German language also uses for Lutheran confirmation a different word (Konfirmation) from the word used for the sacramental rite of the Catholic Church (Firmung).^[38]

Lutheran churches do not treat confirmation as a dominical sacrament of the Gospel, considering that only Baptism and the Eucharist can be regarded as such. Some popular Sundays for this to occur are Palm Sunday, Pentecost and Reformation Sunday (last Sunday in October).

Methodist view[link]

In the United Methodist Church, confirmation is a rite in which individuals baptized in infancy later recognize the work of God's grace and embrace discipleship. It is the individual's first public affirmation of the grace of God in baptism and the acknowledgment of the acceptance of that grace by faith. It often occurs when youth enter their junior high school years, but it may occur during the early high school years.^[39] Candidates to be confirmed take a class which covers Christian doctrine, theology, Methodist Church history, stewardship, basic Bible study and other topics. Those who are baptized as adults rather than as infants do not go through a separate confirmation ritual, since they acknowledge their faith and commitment during baptism.

Latter Day Saint movement[link]

A Latter Day Saint confirmation.

In the Latter Day Saint movement, confirmation is an ordinance that takes place soon after baptism. It has two purposes: (1) to confirm the participant as a member of the church, and (2) to give the participant the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which provides the recipient with spiritual gifts. It consists of a member of the priesthood laying hands on the participant's head and blessing the new member, and telling them to "receive the Holy Ghost".

Secular confirmations[link]

Several secular, mainly Humanist, organizations direct civil confirmations for older children, as a statement of their life stance that is an alternative to traditional religious ceremonies for children of that age.

Some secular regimes have as a matter of policy fostered the replacement of Christian rituals such as confirmation with non-religious ones. In the historically Protestant German Democratic Republic (East Germany), for example, "the Jugendweihe (youth dedication) gradually supplanted the Christian practice of Confirmation."^[40] A concept that first appeared in 1852, the Jugendweihe is described as "a solemn initiation marking the transition from youth to adulthood that was developed in opposition to Protestant and Catholic Churches' Confirmation."^[41]

Repetition of the sacrament[link]

The Roman Catholic Church sees confirmation as one of the three sacraments that no one can receive more than once (see sacramental character). It recognizes as already confirmed those who enter the Catholic Church after receiving the sacrament, even as babies, in the churches of Eastern Christianity, but it confers the sacrament (in its view, for the first and only time) on those who enter the Catholic Church after being confirmed in Protestant or Anglican churches, seeing these churches as lacking properly ordained ministers.

In the Anglican Communion, a person who was previously confirmed by a validly ordained bishop in another denomination is "received" rather than confirmed again. However, the Episcopal Church USA recognizes non-episcopal confirmations as well.

Eastern Orthodox Churches occasionally practise what is seen by other Christians as "re-chrismation", in that they usually chrismate/confirm — and sometimes rebaptize — a convert, even one previously confirmed in other Churches. The justification is that the new chrismation (or baptism) is the only valid one, the earlier one being administered outside of the Church and hence being little more than a symbol. The Eastern Orthodox will also chrismate an apostate from the Orthodox Church who repents and re-enters communion. According to some interpretations, the Eastern Churches therefore view confirmation/chrismation as a repeatable sacrament. According to others, the rite is understood as "part of a process of reconciliation, rather than as a reiteration of post-baptismal chrismation".^[42]

Confirmation in Reform Judaism[link]

All forms of Judaism have a ceremony, the Bar and Bat Mitzvah, which occurs when Jewish children reach 13 years (boys), 12-13 years (girls); at this time they become responsible for their observance of Judaism's religious obligations. Prior to this, the child's parents hold the responsibility for the child's adherence to Jewish law and tradition. After this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.

In the late 1800s Reform Judaism developed a separate ceremony, confirmation, loosely modeled on Christian confirmation ceremonies. This occurred because, at the time, Reform Jews believed that it was inappropriate for Bar/bat mitzvah age children to be considered mature enough to understand what it means to be religious. It was held that children of this age were not responsible enough to understand what it means to observe religious practices. As such, the reform rite of confirmation was originally a replacement for the Bar/Bat mitzvah ceremomy, held at age 16. In later decades, the Reform movement modified this view, and now much of Reform Judaism in the USA encourages chidren to celebrate becoming Bar/Bat mitzvah at the traditional age, and then has the confirmation at the later age as a sign of a more advanced completion of their Jewish studies.

Today, many Reform Jewish congregations hold Confirmation ceremonies as a way of marking the biblical festival of Shavuot and the decision of young adults to embrace Jewish study in their lives and reaffirm their commitment to the Covenant. The confirmands represent "the first fruits of each year's harvest. They represent the hope and promise of tomorrow."^[43] Confirmation is typically held in tenth grade after a year of study, but some synagogues celebrate it in other years of high school.

Confirmation in the context of Reform Judaism is mentioned officially for the first time in an ordinance issued by the Jewish consistory of the kingdom of Westphalia at Cassel in 1810. There it was made the duty of the rabbi "to prepare the young for confirmation, and personally to conduct the ceremony." At first only boys were confirmed, on the Shabbat ("Sabbath") that they celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah; the ceremony was performed at the home or in the schoolroom. In Berlin, Jewish girls were confirmed for the first time in 1817, in Hamburg in 1818.

Confirmation was at first excluded from the synagogue, because, like every innovation, it met with stern opposition from more traditional rabbis. Gradually, however, it found more favor; Hebrew school classes were confirmed together, and confirmation gradually became a solemn and celebration at the synagogue. In 1822 the first class of boys and girls was confirmed at the Hamburg Temple, and in 1831 Rabbi Samuel Egers, a prominent traditional rabbi of his time, began to confirm boys and girls at the synagogue of Brunswick. While in the beginning some Shabbat, frequently during Chanukah or Passover, was selected for confirmation, it became more and more customary, following the example of Egers, to perform the ceremony during the biblical festival of Shavuot ("Feast of Weeks"). It was felt that Shavuot was well suited for the rite, as it celebrated the occasion when the Israelites on Mount Sinai, of their own free will, declared their intention to accept the obligation of God's Law, so those of every new generation should follow the ancient example and declare their willingness to be faithful to the religion transmitted by their ancestors.

Confirmation was introduced in Denmark as early as 1817, in Hamburg 1818, and in Hessen and Saxony in 1835. The Prussian government, which showed itself hostile to the Reform movement, prohibited it as late as 1836, as did Bavaria as late as 1838. It soon made its way, however, into all progressive congregations of Germany. In 1841 it was introduced in France, first in Bordeaux and Marseilles, then in Strasburg and Paris, under the name "initiation religieuse." The first Israelitish synod in 1869 at Leipsic adopted a report by Dr. Herxheimer on religious education, the thirteenth section of which contains an elaborate opinion on confirmation, recommending the same to all Jewish congregations. In America the annual confirmation of boys and girls was first resolved upon by the congregation of Temple Emanu-El of New York in 1847. The ceremony soon gained so firm a foothold in America that soon there was no progressive Jewish congregation in which it did not occur during Shavuot.

Orthodox Judaism criticized the Reform movement for introducing confirmation, as the ceremony had no roots in rabbinic Judaism. When Conservative Judaism began to develop as a distinct movement it too generally rejected confirmation as either unnecessary, or as a non-Jewish innovation. Today most Reform communities have returned to individual Bar Mitzah at 13 or 12 for the Bat Mitzvah ceremonies and the communal confirmation ceremony is less popular.

See also[link]

	Christianity portal
	Judaism portal

• Rite of passage
• Bar and Bat Mitzvah

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Rite of Confirmation Resource Site
• Waking Up Catholic – RCIA and Adult Confirmation
• Church Fathers on Confirmation
• Catholic Sacrament of Confirmation – Initiation
• Information and Forum for Roman Catholics About to Receive Confirmation
• Catholic Encyclopedia – Catholic teaching on Confirmation
• Catechism of Filaret, 307–314 – Eastern Orthodox teaching on Confirmation/Unction with Chrism/Chrismation
• Anglican teaching on Confirmation

Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker with Tommy Potter, Max Roach and Miles Davis at Three Deuces, New York, NY
Background information
Birth name	Charles Parker, Jr.
Also known as	Bird, Yardbird, Zoizeau (in France)[1]
Born	(1920-08-29)August 29, 1920 Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
Died	March 12, 1955(1955-03-12) (aged 34) New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, bebop
Occupations	Saxophonist, composer
Instruments	Alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Years active	1937–1955
Labels	Savoy, Dial, Verve
Website	www.cmgww.com/music/parker/
Notable instruments
Buescher, Conn, King and Grafton alto saxophones

Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), also known as Yardbird and Bird,^[2] was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career^[3] and the shortened form, "Bird", which continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise."

Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop^[4], a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and improvisation. Parker introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas, including rapidly passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. Many Parker recordings demonstrate virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines, combining jazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin, and classical.

Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than an entertainer.

Biography[link]

Childhood[link]

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. Parker attended Lincoln High School.^[5] He enrolled in September 1934 and withdrew in December 1935, just before joining the local Musicians Union.

Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 joined his school's band using a rented school instrument. His father, Charles, was often absent but provided some musical influence; he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. Parker's mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a young trombone player who taught him the basics of improvisation^{[citation needed]}.

Early career[link]

In the late thirties Parker began to practice diligently. During this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said that he spent 3–4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day.^[6]

Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten undoubtedly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker's developing style.

In 1938, Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band.^[7] The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City.^[8][9] Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band.

As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while in the hospital, after an automobile accident, and subsequently became addicted to heroin. He continued using heroin throughout his life, which ultimately contributed to his death.

New York City[link]

In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music. He held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, where pianist Art Tatum performed^{[citation needed]}

In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played with Earl Hines for one year, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. Unfortunately, this period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which time few recordings were made. Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House and Minton's Playhouse. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. The beboppers' attitude was summed up in a famous quotation attributed to Monk by Mary Lou Williams: "We wanted a music that they couldn't play"^[10] – "they" being the white bandleaders who had usurped and profited from swing music. The group played in venues on 52nd Street, including Three Deuces and The Onyx. While in New York City, Parker studied with his music teacher, Maury Deutsch.

Bebop[link]

According to an interview Parker gave in the 1950s, one night in 1939, he was playing "Cherokee" in a jam session with guitarist William "Biddy" Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations. He realized that the twelve tones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.

Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts. The beboppers responded by calling these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Benny Goodman, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.

Because of the two-year Musicians' Union ban of all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944, much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, it gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Bebop soon gained wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.

On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever." The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko" and "Now's the Time".

Shortly afterwards, the Parker/Gillespie band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, eventually being committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for a six-month period.

Addiction[link]

Parker's chronic addiction to heroin caused him to miss gigs and lose work. He frequently resorted to busking on the streets, receiving loans from fellow musicians and admirers, and pawning his saxophones, for drug money. Heroin use was rampant in the jazz scene and the drug could be acquired easily.

Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain when he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, and Parker began to drink heavily to compensate for it. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Prior to this session, Parker drank a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track, "Max Making Wax." When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars. On his second eight bars, however, Parker begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at Parker. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws.^[11] Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve.

When Parker was released from the hospital, he was clean and healthy, and proceeded to do some of the best playing and recording of his career. He converted to Islam in the manner of the Ahmadiyya movement in the US.^[12] Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo", in reference to his hospital stay. He returned to New York, resumed his addiction to heroin and recorded dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels, which remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach.

Charlie Parker with Strings[link]

A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky, and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream Music, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians.^[13] Six master takes from this session comprised the album Charlie Parker with Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You". The sound of these recordings is rare in Parker's catalog. Parker's improvisations are, in comparison to his usual work, more distilled and economical. His tone is darker and softer than on his small-group recordings, and the majority of his lines are beautiful embellishments on the original melodies rather than harmonically based improvisations. These are among the few recordings Parker made during a brief period when he was able to control his heroin habit, and his sobriety and clarity of mind are evident in his playing. Parker stated that, of his own records, Bird With Strings was his favorite. Although using classical music instrumentation with jazz musicians was not entirely original, this was the first major work where a composer of bebop was matched with a string orchestra.

Jazz at Massey Hall[link]

In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Bud Powell and Max Roach. Unfortunately, the concert clashed with a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, so was poorly attended. Mingus recorded the concert, resulting in the album Jazz at Massey Hall. At this concert, he played a plastic Grafton saxophone^{[citation needed]}. At this point in his career he was experimenting with new sounds and materials. Parker himself explained the purpose of the plastic saxophone in a May 9, 1953 broadcast from Birdland and does so again in subsequent May 1953 broadcast.^{[citation needed]}

Parker is known to have played several saxophones, including the Conn 6M, The Martin Handicraft and Selmer Model 22. Parker is also known to have performed with a King "Super 20" saxophone. Parker's King Super 20 saxophone was made specially for him in 1947.

Death[link]

Parker died in the suite of his friend and patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.^[14]

Parker had been living since 1950 with Chan Richardson, the mother of his son Baird and his daughter Pree (who died as an infant of cystic fibrosis). He considered Chan his wife; however he never formally married her, nor did he divorce his previous wife, Doris (whom he had married in 1948). This complicated the settling of Parker's inheritance and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in New York City.

It was well known that Parker never wanted to return to Kansas City, even in death.^{[citation needed]} Parker had told Chan that he did not want to be buried in the city of his birth; that New York was his home. Dizzy Gillespie paid for the funeral arrangements^[15] and organized a lying-in-state, a Harlem procession officiated by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as well as a memorial concert, before Parker's body was flown back to Missouri, in accordance with his mother's wishes. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Missouri, in a hamlet known as Blue Summit.

Parker's estate is managed by CMG Worldwide.

Music[link]

Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over pre-existing jazz forms and standards, a practice still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" ("How High The Moon") and "Yardbird Suite", the vocal version of which is called "What Price Love", with lyrics by Parker. The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop; however, it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and compose their own material.

While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional twelve-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for his tune "Blues for Alice". These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes".^{[citation needed]} Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably "Now's The Time".

Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist with more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Via his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's uniquely identifiable style dominated jazz for many years to come.

Discography[link]

Awards and recognitions[link]

Grammy Award

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Inductions

National Recording Registry

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.

U.S. Postage Stamp

Musical tributes[link]

• Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death.
• Street musician Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory.
• The Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section
• Saxophonist Phil Woods recorded a tribute concert for Parker
• Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself
• In 2003 various artists including Serj Tankian and Dan the Automator put out Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project. This album created new songs by remixing Charlie Parker's originals.
• The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
• The avant-garde trombonist George Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979)
• Sparks released the song "(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing" on their 1994 album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins
• Duane Allman devised a unique slide guitar technique that enabled him to mimic the sounds of chirping birds, stating in at least one interview that this was his tribute to Parker.
• The Only World by poet Lynda Hull includes the poem "Ornithology" about Charlie Parker.
• Refused included live recordings of Parker at the end of the song "Liberation Frequency" and transitioned it into "The Deadly Rhythm" on the album The Shape of Punk to Come.

Charlie Parker Residence
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
NYC Landmark
(2011)
Location:	151 Avenue B Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates:	40°43′36″N 73°58′50″W / 40.72667°N 73.98056°W / 40.72667; -73.98056Coordinates: 40°43′36″N 73°58′50″W / 40.72667°N 73.98056°W / 40.72667; -73.98056
Built:	c.1849
Architectural style:	Gothic Revival
Governing body:	private
NRHP Reference#:	94000262
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	April 7, 1994[20]
Designated NRHP:	April 7, 1994
Designated NYCL:	May 18, 1999[19]

Charlie Parker Residence[link]

From 1950 to 1954, Parker and his common-law wife, Chan Richardson, lived in the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, across from Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan's East Village. The Gothic Revival building, which was built c.1849,^[21] was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994,^[22] and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. Avenue B, between East 7th and 10th Streets, was renamed Charlie Parker Place in 1992.

Other tributes[link]

• The 1957 story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin features a jazz/blues playing virtuoso who names Bird as the "greatest" jazz musician, whose style he hopes to emulate.
• In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.
• A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a 10-foot (3 m) tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.
• The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival that takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation. The festival marked its 17th anniversary in 2009.
• In one of his most famous short story collections, Las armas secretas (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer") to the memory of Charlie Parker. This piece examines the last days of Johnny, a drug-addict saxophonist, through the eyes of Bruno, his biographer. Some qualify this story as one of Cortazar's masterpieces in the genre.
• A biographical film called Bird, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.^[23]
• In 1984, legendary modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece For Bird – With Love in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life, from his early career to his failing health.
• In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Charlie Parker (1955–2005).
• Parker's performances of "I Remember You" and "Parker's Mood" (recorded for the Savoy label in 1948, with the Charlie Parker All Stars, comprising Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums) were selected by Harold Bloom for inclusion on his shortlist of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century. A vocalese version of "Parker's Mood" was a popular success for King Pleasure.
• The Oris Watch Company created a limited edition timepiece in Charlie Parker's name. The watch features the word "bird" at the 4 o'clock hour, in honor of Parker's nickname and signifying "Jazz, until 4 in the morning".
• Jean-Michel Basquiat created many pieces to honour Charlie Parker, including Charles the First, CPRKR and Discography I.
• In 1995, Live Bird, a one-man play about Charlie Parker, written and performed by actor/saxophonist Jeff Robinson, made its premier at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled Ode to a High Flying Bird as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a major influence in his life as a young man learning to play jazz.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). Charlie Parker Omnibook. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.
• Giddins, Gary (1987). Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. New York: Beech Tree Books, William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-05950-3
• Koch, Lawrence (1999). Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker. Boston, Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55555-384-1
• Parker, Chan (1999). My Life In E-Flat. University Of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-245-9
• Reisner, George (1962). Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker. New York, Bonanza Books.
• Russell, Ross (1973). Bird Lives! The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker. New York:Charterhouse. ISBN 0-306-80679-7
• Woideck, Carl (1998). Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08555-7
• Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864714-9
• Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). Yardbird Originals. New York: Charles Colin, reprinted 2005.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlie Parker

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlie Parker Residence

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlie Parker

• The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
• Charlie Parker discography at Discogs
• Charlie Parker discography
• Charlie Parker on Find A Grave
• Charlie Parker Sessionography
• Clips and notes about Parker

Dizzy Gillespie
Gillespie in concert, Deauville, Normandy, France
Background information
Birth name	John Birks Gillespie
Born	(1917-10-21)October 21, 1917 Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 6, 1993(1993-01-06) (aged 75) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Bebop Afro-Cuban jazz
Occupations	Trumpeter, bandleader, singer, composer
Instruments	Trumpet, piano, trombone
Years active	1935–1993
Labels	Pablo Records, Verve Records, Savoy Records, RCA Victor Records, Milan Records, Douglas Records
Associated acts	Charlie Parker Cab Calloway Bud Powell

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( /ɡɨˈlɛspi/; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer and, occasionally, singer.^[1]

Allmusic's Scott Yanow wrote, "Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated . . . Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time."^[2]

Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge^[3] but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop.

In the 1940s Gillespie, together with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz.^[4] He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Jon Faddis^[5] and Chuck Mangione.^[6]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones, Mary Lou Williams and Milt Orent in 1947

Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children of James and Lottie Gillespie. James was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to Dizzy. He started to play the piano at the age of four. Dizzy's father died when the boy was only ten years old. Dizzy taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. From the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, play on the radio, he dreamed of becoming a jazz musician.^[7] He received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, North Carolina, which he attended for two years before accompanying his family when they moved to Philadelphia.^[8]

Dizzy's first professional job was with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra in 1935, after which he joined the respective orchestras of Edgar Hayes and Teddy Hill, essentially replacing Roy Eldridge as first trumpet in 1937. Teddy Hill’s band was where Dizzy Gillespie made his first recording, King Porter Stomp. At this time, Dizzy met a young woman named Lorraine from the Apollo Theatre, whom he married in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1993. Dizzy stayed with Teddy Hill’s band for a year, then left and free-lanced with numerous other bands.^[5] In 1939, Dizzy joined Cab Calloway's orchestra, with which he recorded one of his earliest compositions, the instrumental Pickin' the Cabbage, in 1940. (Originally released on Paradiddle, a 78rpm backed with a co-composition with Cozy Cole, Calloway's drummer at the time, on the Vocalion label, #5467).

Tadd Dameron, Mary Lou Williams and Dizzy Gillespie in 1947

Dizzy was fired by Calloway in late 1941, after a notorious altercation between the two. The incident is recounted by Dizzy, along with fellow Calloway band members Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones, in Jean Bach's 1997 film, The Spitball Story. Calloway did not approve of Dizzy's mischievous humor, nor of his adventuresome approach to soloing; according to Jones, Calloway referred to it as “Chinese music.” During one performance, Calloway saw a spitball land on the stage, and accused Dizzy of having thrown it. Dizzy denied it, and the ensuing argument led to Calloway striking Dizzy, who then pulled out a switchblade knife and charged Calloway. The two were separated by other band members, during which scuffle Calloway was cut on the hand.

During his time in Calloway's band, Dizzy Gillespie started writing big band music for bandleaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey.^[5] He then freelanced with a few bands - most notably Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra, composed of members of the late Chick Webb's band, in 1942.

In 1943, Dizzy joined the Earl Hines band. Composer Gunther Schuller said:

... In 1943 I heard the great Earl Hines band which had Bird in it and all those other great musicians. They were playing all the flatted fifth chords and all the modern harmonies and substitutions and Dizzy Gillespie runs in the trumpet section work. Two years later I read that that was 'bop' and the beginning of modern jazz ... but the band never made recordings.^[9]

Gillespie said of the Hines band, "People talk about the Hines band being 'the incubator of bop' and the leading exponents of that music ended up in the Hines band. But people also have the erroneous impression that the music was new. It was not. The music evolved from what went before. It was the same basic music. The difference was in how you got from here to here to here ... naturally each age has got its own shit".^[10]

Next, Gillespie joined Billy Eckstine's (Earl Hines' long-time collaborator) big band and it was as a member of Eckstine's band that he was reunited with Charlie Parker, a fellow member of Hines's band. In 1945, Dizzy left Eckstine's band because he wanted to play with a small combo. A "small combo" typically comprised no more than five musicians, playing the trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass and drums.

The rise of bebop[link]

Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Timmie Rosenkrantz in September 1947, New York

Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style. However, it was unpopular in the beginning and was not viewed as positively as swing music was. Bebop was seen as an outgrowth of swing, not a revolution. Swing introduced a diversity of new musicians in the bebop era like Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, and Gillespie. Through these musicians, a new vocabulary of musical phrases was created.^[11] With Charlie Parker, Gillespie jammed at famous jazz clubs like Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House. Charlie Parker's system also held methods of adding chords to existing chord progressions and implying additional chords within the improvised lines.^[11]

Gillespie compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody n' You" and "Salt Peanuts" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, from the swing music popular at the time. "A Night in Tunisia", written in 1942, while Gillespie was playing with Earl Hines' band, is noted for having a feature that is common in today's music, a non-walking bass line.^{[citation needed]} The song also displays Afro-Cuban rhythms.^[12] One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was only issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Gillespie taught many of the young musicians on 52nd Street, including Miles Davis and Max Roach, about the new style of jazz. After a lengthy gig at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles, which left most of the audience ambivalent or hostile towards the new music, the band broke up. Unlike Parker, who was content to play in small groups and be an occasional featured soloist in big bands, Gillespie aimed to lead a big band himself; his first, unsuccessful, attempt to do this was in 1945.^{[citation needed]}

Gillespie with John Lewis, Cecil Payne, Miles Davis, and Ray Brown, between 1946 and 1948

After his work with Parker, Gillespie led other small combos (including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, and Yusef Lateef) and finally put together his first successful big band. Dizzy Gillespie and his band tried to popularize bop and make Dizzy Gillespie a symbol of the new music.^[13] He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. He also headlined the 1946 independently-produced musical revue film Jivin' in Be-Bop.^[14]

In 1948 Dizzy was involved in a traffic accident when the bicycle he was riding was bumped by an automobile. He was slightly injured, and found that he could no longer hit the B-flat above high C. He won the case, but the jury awarded him only $1000, in view of his high earnings up to that point.^[15]

In 1956 he organized a band to go on a State Department tour of the Middle East which was extremely well received internationally and earned him the nickname "the Ambassador of Jazz".^[16][17] During this time, he also continued to lead a big band that performed throughout the United States and featured musicians including Pee Wee Moore and others. This band recorded a live album at the 1957 Newport jazz festival that featured Mary Lou Williams as a guest artist on piano.

Afro-Cuban music[link]

Miriam Makeba and Dizzy Gillespie in concert, Deauville (Normandy, France), July 20, 1991.

In the late 1940s, Gillespie was also involved in the movement called Afro-Cuban music, bringing Afro-Latin American music and elements to greater prominence in jazz and even pop music, particularly salsa. Afro-Cuban jazz is based on traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms. Dizzy Gillespie was introduced to Chano Pozo in 1947 by Mario Bauza, a Latin jazz trumpet player. Chano Pozo became Gillespie's conga drummer for his band. Dizzy Gilespie also worked with Mario Bauza in New York jazz clubs on 52nd Street and several famous dance clubs such as Palladium and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They played together in the Chick Webb band and Cab Calloway's band, where Gillespie and Bauza became life-long friends. Dizzy helped develop and mature the Afro-Cuban jazz style.^[18]

Afro-Cuban jazz was considered bebop-oriented, and some musicians classified it as a modern style. Afro-Cuban jazz was successful because it never decreased in popularity and it always attracted people to dance to its unique rhythms.^[18] Gillespie's most famous contributions to Afro-Cuban music are the compositions "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo" (both co-written with Chano Pozo); he was responsible for commissioning George Russell's "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop", which featured the great but ill-fated Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba.

Later years[link]

Gillespie performing in 1955

His biographer Alyn Shipton quotes Don Waterhouse approvingly that Dizzy in the fifties "had begun to mellow into an amalgam of his entire jazz experience to form the basis of new classicism". Another opinion is that, unlike his contemporary Miles Davis, Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career.^{[citation needed]}

In 1960, he was inducted into the Down Beat magazine's Jazz Hall of Fame.

During the 1964 United States presidential campaign the artist, with tongue in cheek, put himself forward as an independent write-in candidate.^[19][20] He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed "The Blues House," and a cabinet composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X (Attorney General).^[21][22] He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller. Campaign buttons had been manufactured years ago by Gillespie's booking agency "for publicity, as a gag",^[23] but now proceeds from them went to benefit the Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr.;^[24] in later years they became a collector's item.^[25] In 1971 Gillespie announced he would run again^[26][27] but withdrew before the election for reasons connected to the Bahá'í Faith.^[28]

Gillespie published his autobiography, To Be or Not to Bop, in 1979.

Gillespie was a vocal fixture in many of John Hubley and Faith Hubley's animated films, such as The Hole, The Hat, and Voyage to Next.

In the 1980s, Dizzy Gillespie led the United Nation Orchestra. For three years Flora Purim toured with the Orchestra and she credits Gillespie with evolving her understanding of jazz after being in the field for over two decades.^[29] David Sánchez also toured with the group and was also greatly influenced by Gillespie. Both artists later were nominated for Grammy awards. Gillespie also had a guest appearance on The Cosby Show as well as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie had a cameo appearance on Stevie Wonder's hit "Do I Do". Gillespie's tone gradually faded in the last years in life, and his performances often focused more on his proteges such as Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis; his good-humoured comedic routines became more and more a part of his live act.

Dizzy Gillespie with drummer Bill Stewart at 1984 Stanford Jazz Workshop

In 1988, Gillespie had worked with Canadian flautist and saxophonist Moe Koffman on their prestigious album Oo Pop a Da. He did fast scat vocals on the title track and a couple of the other tracks were played only on trumpet.

In 1989 Gillespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries, appeared in 100 U.S. cities in 31 states and the District of Columbia, headlined three television specials, performed with two symphonies, and recorded four albums.^{[citation needed]} He was also crowned a traditional chief in Nigeria, received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; France's most prestigious cultural award. He was named Regent Professor by the University of California, and received his fourteenth honorary doctoral degree, this one from the Berklee College of Music. In addition, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, Gillespie received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Duke Ellington Award for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader.^[30][31] In 1993 he received the Polar Music Prize in Sweden.^[32]

Dizzy Gillespie with the Italian singer Sergio Caputo.

November 26, 1992 at Carnegie Hall in New York, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress was Dizzy's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included: Jon Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "But the musicians played their real hearts out for him, no doubt suspecting that he would not play again. Each musician gave tribute to their friend, this great soul and innovator in the world of jazz."^[33]

Gillespie also starred in a film called The Winter in Lisbon released in 2004.^[34] He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood section of the City of Los Angeles. He is honored by the December 31, 2006 - A Jazz New Year's Eve: Freddy Cole & the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.^[35]

Death and legacy[link]

Gillespie in concert at Colonial Tavern, Toronto, 1978

A longtime resident of Englewood, New Jersey,^[36] he died of pancreatic cancer January 6, 1993, aged 75, and was buried in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died, along with Jon Faddis and a select few others.

At the time of his death, Dizzy Gillespie was survived by his widow, Lorraine Willis Gillespie; a daughter, jazz singer Jeanie Bryson; and a grandson, Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá'í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York open to the public.^[37]

Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the Bahá'í Faith which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to soul force, in the words of author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years. He spoke about the Baha'i Faith frequently on his trips abroad.^[38][39][40] He is often called the Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador.^[41] He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center in the memorial auditorium.^[42]

Style[link]

Statue of Dizzy Gillespie in his hometown Cheraw, South Carolina

Gillespie has been described as the "Sound of Surprise".^[43] The Rough Guide to Jazz describes his musical style:

The whole essence of a Gillespie solo was cliff-hanging suspense: the phrases and the angle of the approach were perpetually varied, breakneck runs were followed by pauses, by huge interval leaps, by long, immensely high notes, by slurs and smears and bluesy phrases; he always took listeners by surprise, always shocking them with a new thought. His lightning reflexes and superb ear meant his instrumental execution matched his thoughts in its power and speed. And he was concerned at all times with swing — even taking the most daring liberties with pulse or beat, his phrases never failed to swing. Gillespies’s magnificent sense of time and emotional intensity of his playing came from childhood roots. His parents were Methodists, but as a boy he used to sneak off every Sunday to the uninhibited Sanctified Church. He said later, ‘The Sanctified Church had deep significance for me musically. I first learned the significance of rhythm there and all about how music can transport people spiritually.'"^[44]

In Dizzy's obituary, Peter Watrous describes his performance style:

In the naturally effervescent Mr. Gillespie, opposites existed. His playing — and he performed constantly until nearly the end of his life — was meteoric, full of virtuosic invention and deadly serious. But with his endlessly funny asides, his huge variety of facial expressions and his natural comic gifts, he was as much a pure entertainer as an accomplished artist."^[45]

Wynton Marsalis summed up Gillespie as a player and teacher:

His playing showcases the importance of intelligence. His rhythmic sophistication was unequaled. He was a master of harmony — and fascinated with studying it. He took in all the music of his youth — from Roy Eldridge to Duke Ellington — and developed a unique style built on complex rhythm and harmony balanced by wit. Dizzy was so quick-minded, he could create an endless flow of ideas at unusually fast tempo. Nobody had ever even considered playing a trumpet that way, let alone had actually tried. All the musicians respected him because, in addition to outplaying everyone, he knew so much and was so generous with that knowledge..."^[46]

"Bent" trumpet[link]

Dizzy Gillespie with his bent trumpet, performing in 1988

Gillespie's trademark trumpet featured a bell which bent upward at a 45-degree angle rather than pointing straight ahead as in the conventional design. According to Gillespie's autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by the dancers Stump and Stumpy falling onto it while it was on a trumpet stand on stage at Snookie's in Manhattan on January 6, 1953, during a birthday party for Gillespie's wife Lorraine.^[47] The constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. He had the trumpet straightened out the next day, but he could not forget the tone. Gillespie sent a request to Martin Committee to make him a "bent" trumpet from a sketch produced by Lorraine, and from that time forward Gillespie played a trumpet with an upturned bell.^[48]

Gillespie's biographer Alyn Shipton writes that Gillespie probably got the idea for a bent trumpet when he saw a similar instrument in 1937 in Manchester, England, while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra. According to this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn for himself.

Whatever the origins of Gillespie's upswept trumpet, by June 1954, he was using a professionally manufactured horn of this design, and it was to become a visual trademark for him for the rest of his life.^[49] Such trumpets were made for him by Martin Committee (from 1954), King Musical Instruments (from 1972) and Renold Schilke (from 1982, a gift from Jon Faddis).^[48] Gillespie favored mouthpieces made by Al Cass. In December 1986 Gillespie gave the National Museum of American History his 1972 King "Silver Flair" trumpet with a Cass mouthpiece.^[48][50][51] In April 1995, Gillespie's Martin trumpet was auctioned at Christie's in New York City, along with instruments used by other famous musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley.^[52] An image of Gillespie's trumpet was selected for the cover of the auction program. The battered instrument sold to Manhattan builder Jeffery Brown for $63,000, the proceeds benefiting jazz musicians suffering from cancer.^[53][54][55]

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• 1937-49: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (RCA Victor)
• 1945-47: Groovin' High (Savoy)
• 1950: Bird and Diz (Clef) - with Charlie Parker
• 1951-52: Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions (Savoy) - includes all tracks on The Champ (Savoy) and School Days (Regent)
• 1952-53: The Great Blue Star Sessions 1952-1953 (EmArcy) - includes all tracks on Dizzy Gillespie and His Operatic Strings Orchestra (Fontana) and some tracks released on Dizzy at Home and Abroad (Atlantic)
• 1953: Dizzy Digs Paris (Giant Steps) - includes all tracks on Dizzy Over Paris (Roost)
• 1953: Jazz at Massey Hall (Debut) - with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach
• 1953: Diz and Getz (Norgran) - with Stan Getz
• 1954: Afro (Norgran)
• 1954: Dizzy and Strings (Norgran)
• 1954: Roy and Diz (Clef) - with Roy Eldridge
• 1954-55: Jazz Recital (Norgran) - also released as Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra
• 1955: One Night in Washington (Elektra Musician [1983])
• 1956: Modern Jazz Sextet (Norgran)
• 1956: World Statesman (Norgran)
• 1956: Dizzy in Greece (Verve)
• 1956: For Musicians Only (Verve) - with Stan Getz and Sonny Stitt
• 1957: Birks' Works (Verve)
• 1957: Dizzy Gillespie and Stuff Smith (Verve)
• 1957: Sittin' In (Verve) - with Stan Getz and Coleman Hawkins
• 1957: Dizzy Gillespie at Newport (Verve)
• 1957: Duets (Verve) - with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt
• 1957: The Greatest Trumpet of Them All (Verve) - with Benny Golson
• 1957: Sonny Side Up (Verve) - with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt
• 1959: The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie (Verve)
• 1959: Have Trumpet, Will Excite! (Verve)
• 1960: A Portrait of Duke Ellington (Verve)
• 1960: Gillespiana (Verve) - composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin
• 1961: An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (Verve)
• 1961: Carnegie Hall Concert (Verve)
• 1961: Perceptions (Verve) - composed and arranged by J.J. Johnson, conducted by Gunther Schuller
• 1962: Dizzy on the French Riviera (Philips)
• 1962: The New Continent (Limelight) - composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin
• 1963: New Wave (Philips)
• 1963: Something Old, Something New (Philips)
• 1963: Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (Philips)
• 1964: Dizzy Goes Hollywood (Philips)
• 1964: The Cool World (Philips)
• 1964: Jambo Caribe (Limelight)
• 1965: Gil Fuller & the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra featuring Dizzy Gillespie (Pacific Jazz) - with Gil Fuller
• 1966: The Melody Lingers On (Limelight)
• 1967: Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac (Impulse!)
• 1967: Live at the Village Vanguard (Solid State)
• 1968: The Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Big Band (MPS)
• 1969: It's My Way (Solid State) - also released as My Way
• 1969: Cornucopia (Solid State)
• 1970: The Real Thing (Perception) - with James Moody
• 1970: Portrait of Jenny (Perception)
• 1971: Giants (Perception) - with Bobby Hackett and Mary Lou Williams
• 1971: Dizzy Gillespie and the Mitchell Ruff Duo in Concert (Mainstream) - with Willie Ruff and Dwike Mitchell
• 1971: The Giants of Jazz (Atlantic) - with Art Blakey, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt and Kai Winding
• 1973: The Giant (America)
• 1973: The Source (America)
• 1974: Dizzy Gillespie's Big 4 (Pablo)
• 1974: The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (Pablo) - with Joe Turner, Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Clark Terry
• 1974: Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie (Pablo) - with Oscar Peterson
• 1974: Oscar Peterson and The Trumpet Kings - Jousts (Pablo) - with Oscar Peterson
• 1975: The Bop Session (Sonet) - with Sonny Stitt, John Lewis, Hank Jones, Percy Heath and Max Roach
• 1975: Jazz Maturity...Where It's Coming From (Pablo) - with Oscar Peterson and Roy Eldridge
• 1975: Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods (Pablo) - with Machito
• 1975: The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 (Pablo) - also released as Dizzy
• 1975: The Trumpet Kings at Montreux '75 (Pablo) - with Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry and Oscar Peterson
• 1975: Bahiana (Pablo)
• 1976: Carter, Gillespie Inc. (Pablo) - with Benny Carter
• 1976: Dizzy's Party (Pablo)
• 1977: Free Ride (Pablo) - composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin
• 1977: The Gifted Ones (Pablo) - with Count Basie
• 1977: Dizzy Gillespie Jam (Pablo) - with John Faddis
• 1980: The Trumpet Summit Meets the Oscar Peterson Big 4 (Pablo) - with Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry and Oscar Peterson
• 1980: The Alternate Blues (Pablo) - with Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry and Oscar Peterson
• 1980: Digital at Montreux, 1980 (Pablo)
• 1981: Musician, Composer, Raconteur (Pablo)
• 1981: To a Finland Station (Pablo) - with Arturo Sandoval
• 1984: Closer to the Source (Atlantic)
• 1985: New Faces (GRP)
• 1986: Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet - with Phil Woods
• 1988: Endlessly (Impulse!)
• 1988: Oop-Pop-A-Da (Soundwings) - with Moe Koffman
• 1989: Live at the Royal Festival Hall (Enja) - with the United Nation Orchestra
• 1989: Max + Dizzy: Paris 1989 (A&M) - with Max Roach
• 1989: The Paris All Stars Homage to Charlie Parker (A&M) with Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, Percy Heath and Max Roach
• 1989: The Symphony Sessions (ProJazz)
• 1990: The Winter in Lisbon (Milan) - soundtrack
• 1991: Live! at Blues Alley (with Ron Holloway, Ed Cherry, John Lee, Ignacio Berroa)
• 1992: Bird Songs: The Final Recordings (Telarc)
• 1992: To Bird with Love (Telarc)
• 1992: To Diz with Love (Telarc)

As sideman[link]

With Benny Carter

• New Jazz Sounds (Norgran, 1954)

With CTI All Stars

• Rhythmstick (CTI, 1990)

With Quincy Jones

• Back on the Block (Warner Bros., 1989)

With Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich

• Krupa and Rich (Clef, 1955)

With Mike Longo

• Talk with the Spirits (Pablo, 1976)

With the Manhattan Transfer

• Vocalese (Atlantic, 1985)

With Carmen McRae

• Carmen McRae at the Great American Music Hall (Blue Note, 1976)

With Charles Mingus

• Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (Columbia, 1972)

With Katie Bell Nubin

• Soul, Soul Searching (Verve, 1960)

With Oscar Peterson

• Oscar Peterson Jam - Montreux '77 (Pablo)

With Mongo Santamaria

• Montreux Heat! (Pablo, 1980)
• Summertime (Pablo, 1980)

With Woody Shaw

• Woody Shaw and Friends at Monterey Jazz Festival 1979 (Concord Jazz, 1979)

With Lillian Terry

• Oo-Shoo-Be-Doo-Be...Oo, Oo...Oo, Oo (Black Saint, 1985)

With Randy Weston

• Spirits of Our Ancestors (Verve, 1992)

Filmography[link]

• 1983 Jazz in America (Embassy)
• 1986 In Redondo Beach/Jazz In America ( Embassy)
• 1991 Dizzy Gillespie: A Night in Tunisia (VIEW)
• 1993 Live in London (Kultur Video)
• 1998 Dizzy Gillespie & Charles Mingus (Vidjazz)
• 1998 Dizzy Gillespie: Ages (Vidjazz)
• 1999 Jazz Casual: Dizzy Gillespie (Rhino)
• 2001 Jivin'in Be-Bop (Jazz Classic Video)
• 2001 Dizzy Gillespie: A Night in Chicago (VIEW)^[56]
• 2001 Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1987 (Pioneer)
• 2002 Live in Montreal (Image)
• 2003 20th Century Jazz Masters
• 2003 Swing Era (with Mel Torme) (Idem)
• 2005 Norman Granz Jazz in Montreux: Presents Dizzy Gillespie Sextet '77 (Eagle Vision USA)
• 2005 Summer Jazz Live at New Jersey 1987 (FS World Jazz / Alpha Centauri Entertainment)
• 2005 A Night in Havana: Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba (New Video Group)
• 2006 Jazz Icons: Live in '58 & '70 (Universal)
• 2008 London Concerts 1965 & 1966 (Impro-Jazz Spain)

Bibliography[link]

• To Be, or Not...to Bop. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

References[link]