Rec. 1953 / Remaster

The story behind the bent trumpet

It is just a few days since the accident that gave the career of the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie a new boost and made the main figure of this captivating Jazz history appear that bit crazier, that bit more “Dizzier”. At the end of the year 1953, according to the legend, Lorraine Gillespie, Dizzy’s wife, was celebrating her birthday in Manhattan; there were a lot of musicians, dancers and actors present and, after performing for the birthday girl, Dizzy’s trumpet was left lying unattended on the stage while the trumpeter was outside in front of the club giving an interview. The two dancing comedians “Stump & Stumpy” (Jimmy Cross and Eddie Hartman) were capering around the stage and one of them fell on the instrument and damaged it so that the bell was bent upwards at an angle of 45 degrees. Dizzy, the story continues, tried to play the mutilated instrument and noticed just how near to his ear his own sound suddenly was, nearer at least than with a normal trumpet. He had the damaged instrument repaired, but ordered a new trumpet from a manufacturer with exactly the same kink as the accident had caused.

If all of that is true, the first jazz recording in the archive of today’s NDR was played either with the repaired trumpet or with a substitute instrument –Mister Gillespie, who came on the 9th of March 1953 with his quintet for a studio recording to Hamburg’s studio 10(which at the time was merged with the Cologne broadcaster under the name of “Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk” – NWDR), is not only wearing – even though there is no audience – a decorative Tyrolean hat like the popular singing comedian and EX-GI Billy Mo; the ornately decorated trumpet he plays has no kink, it is absolutely straight (as verified in the photos by Susanne Schapowalow). The “old” Dizzy, so to speak, becomes a prominent guest on this remark.......
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The story behind the bent trumpet

It is just a few days since the accident that gave the career of the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie a new boost and made the main figure of this captivating Jazz history appear that bit crazier, that bit more “Dizzier”. At the end of the year 1953, according to the legend, Lorraine Gillespie, Dizzy’s wife, was celebrating her birthday in Manhattan; there were a lot of musicians, dancers and actors present and, after performing for the birthday girl, Dizzy’s trumpet was left lying unattended on the stage while the trumpeter was outside in front of the club giving an interview. The two dancing comedians “Stump & Stumpy” (Jimmy Cross and Eddie Hartman) were capering around the stage and one of them fell on the instrument and damaged it so that the bell was bent upwards at an angle of 45 degrees. Dizzy, the story continues, tried to play the mutilated instrument and noticed just how near to his ear his own sound suddenly was, nearer at least than with a normal trumpet. He had the damaged instrument repaired, but ordered a new trumpet from a manufacturer with exactly the same kink as the accident had caused.

If all of that is true, the first jazz recording in the archive of today’s NDR was played either with the repaired trumpet or with a substitute instrument –Mister Gillespie, who came on the 9th of March 1953 with his quintet for a studio recording to Hamburg’s studio 10(which at the time was merged with the Cologne broadcaster under the name of “Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk” – NWDR), is not only wearing – even though there is no audience – a decorative Tyrolean hat like the popular singing comedian and EX-GI Billy Mo; the ornately decorated trumpet he plays has no kink, it is absolutely straight (as verified in the photos by Susanne Schapowalow). The “old” Dizzy, so to speak, becomes a prominent guest on this remark.......
more