Jazz great Dizzy Gillespie holds a campaign balloon during his 1963-64 run for the White House. Gilles Petard/Redferns/Getty Images.

Dizzy Gillespie wasn't content to stick with music people could dance to. The jazz trumpeter had more complex melodies, harmonies and rhythms in mind.

Dizzy Gillespie eventually pulled out of the race for president. He did eventually make it to the White House in 1978, when then-president Jimmy Carter invited him to play there.

Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell: They altered the course of American music and raised the bar for improvisation. Listen to 10 experts’ favorites.

Paul picks up the story behind the image: “I first met Dizzy Gillespie in 1970, at the home of Arthur and Joyce Dahl, in Pebble Beach, CA. The Dahls were great supporters of the arts. Arthur, ...

A concert at Town Hall this week that will be led by Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra celebrates the legacies of Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo and Chico O’Farrill. By Ed ...

Dizzy Gillespie in 1955. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, LC-USZ62-114443 I heard a version of this story from Bill some years ...