Dizzy Gillespie's Estate Up For Auction

Late jazz legend DIZZY GILLESPIE's estate is to be sold at auction today (14SEP05) in New Jersey, where it is expected to fetch more than $1 million (GBP555,000).

Gillespie died in 1993 and left his wife Lorraine, with whom he had no children, as the sole recipient of his estate. Widow Lorraine she said she wanted family, friends and charities to benefit from the sale of Gillespie's estate before her own death last year (04).

The most sought after lots are expected to be Gillespie's 1975 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, his signature bent trumpet, rare albums, a Hollywood Walk Of Fame plaque and hand-written letters from Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and former US President Bill Clinton.

KATHY NYE, whose auction house Dawson And Nye is hosting the sale, says, "It's the Dizzy factor. He's most certainly an American legend and his belongings are a piece of American music history.''