JAZZ

Dizzy Gillespie had a happy 70th birthday Wednesday in Collinsville, Ill., with dozens of fans, reporters, photographers and jazz buffs in attendance to wish him well. “Just to be appreciated, to be accepted is one of the great things,” Gillespie told the crowd. “Be as you are and hope that it’s right.” Because of the trumpeter’s extensive travels--he became the first jazz musician to be sent on an overseas tour sponsored by the U.S. government in 1956--Gillespie said his style is now a mix of music from other musicians and cultures. “I’m a mitigated thief,” he said. “Any soloist who has reached any depth is a thief too. I steal from trombones and pianists.”