Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie made dreams come true - his and a Soviet's - by bebopping his way to the Soviet capital of Moscow for the first time in his long career.
"I've always wanted to come to Moscow, but nobody ever asked me," Gillespie said.Gillespie, 72, finally got the invitation from One World for All, a charity for peace and the environment. He played East Berlin on Wednesday and travels next to Prague, Czechoslovakia.
After Thursday's concert, attended by about 2,500 people who jammed the Hotel Rossiya Concert Hall, a Soviet fan said he also had waited a long time.
"I'm delighted that after 40 years of dreaming, in my life I've gotten to see and hear Dizzy Gillespie," said Igor Itkin.
Gillespie, his cheeks puffed out as he blew into his bent-bell trumpet, was showered with flowers after each song, prompting him to remark, "I haven't had so many flowers in my life!"