From the Najee & Seteria Dorsey Collection…

The Najee & Seteria Dorsey Collection at Black Art In America consists of over 400 works in various mediums and genres by both legacy and leading contemporary artists.

The brother named John wanted nothing to do with the war. The year was 1943, decades before Muhammad Ali refused military service, and the young musician was clearly not going anywhere.

“In this stage of my life here in the United States, whose foot has been in my ass?” he asked, of the local draft board at his Selective Service interview. “So if you put me out there with a gun in my hand and tell me to shoot at the enemy, I’m liable to create a case of ‘mistaken identity’ of who I might shoot.”

Melvin Clark, “Dizzy”

The 25-year-old’s stance prompted him to be classified 4-F, i.e. “registrant not qualified for military service.” This worked just fine for emerging trumpet virtuoso, John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, who would go on to become a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz, inspiring the likes of Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, and Arturo Sandoval.

There was no one like Dizzy. His musicianship was breathtaking, his style, unmistakable. Consistently, Gillespie was once depicted in the following manner: “His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality provided one of bebop’s most prominent symbols.”

Yes, those cheeks… those jarring, magnificent, blowfish-like cheeks.

Detroit-born artist, Melvin Clark, gives us Dizzy in all his musical, stylish, and balloon-grilled glory.

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