He was with Cab, he heard me and said, someday when I get my own band, when I leave Cab Calloway, I would like you to play for me.

NPR: Jazz Legend Max Roach Dies at 83

Legend has it that Gillespie, one of the architects of the bebop revolution with Charlie Parker and Bud Powell, was already playing oddly dissonant solos when he was with Cab Calloway's band in 1939.

NPR: Dizzy and Chet, a Jazz Odd Couple

Born in Mississippi in 1910, Hinton moved to Chicago in the late '20s, played with Cab Calloway for many years and ended up in New York as one of the city's first black session musicians.

NPR: 'Playing the Changes' Chronicles Jazz Great Hinton