John "Dizzy" Gillespie was one of the pioneers of bebop jazz in the 1940s. Growing up in a large, low-income family, Gillespie taught himself how to play trumpet as a child without access to private lessons. After struggling to find steady work early in his career because his radical new jazz style was not initially accepted by traditional jazz audiences, Gillespie persevered through lengthy tours across the country to build an audience for the new bebop genre. As an African American musician, he also faced racial prejudice and discrimination in the music industry and broader society. But Gillespie overcame these barriers through his prodigious talent and unrelenting drive to make a new place for jazz in American culture. Later in life, he worked as a goodwill ambassador for the U.S. State Department, spreading his love for jazz around the world. Gillespie overcame adversity and presiding attitudes about what constituted music and who could play it to become one of the most innovative jazz trumpeters and an ambassador for American culture through music.

The piece reflects the gifted music of Dizzy Gillespie.