When jazz’s greatest musicians lived in Queens

Dizzy Gillespie in 1947. Photo (cc) 2010 by Ky.

The best story I’m likely to read all day appears, oddly enough, in The New York Times’ Sunday real estate section. It’s about Corona, a neighborhood in Queens where I’ve never been that was home to some of the finest jazz musicians of the bebop era. In the middle of all this was Dizzy Gillespie, who bought a home there in 1953. Louis Armstrong, whose peak years predated Gillespie’s, lived there as well, and his song “What a Wonderful World” was a tribute to that neighborhood.

The story, by Mia Jackson, is a great read. But if you do nothing else, click and look at the photo of Ella Fitzgerald and Gillespie performing in 1947, and especially Gillespie’s face, a tremendously moving combination of love and reverence (same thing, I suppose). It’s because of that photo that I’m posting a free link.

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