This year, two of the most brilliant and influential jazz musicians of all time would have celebrated their centennial birthdays: Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald. Both NEA Jazz Masters—Dizzy was honored in our inaugural class of Jazz Masters and Ella was the first woman to ever receive the award—the two were friends and collaborators, performing together around the world, and frequently at historic moments, including the introduction of bebop to Carnegie Hall, and the integration of musical venues. Given their frequently intertwined legacies, we thought we’d feature wisdom from these two legends in a single post. Enjoy!

Listen to our audio blog post about Ella Fitzgerald, or browse photos of Dizzy Gillespie snapped by another NEA Jazz Master, Milt Hinton.