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How Dizzy Gillespie helped forge a new jazz era in America

Dizzy Gillespie and his iconic trumpet -- with its turned up bell -- brought a new era of American jazz to a global audience. It's part of our 250th anniversary series America in Pursuit.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.