The "Conk" was a hairstyle of that era in which black men suffered the pain of using chemicals such as lye (!) to straighten their hair.

Cab Calloway wore a conk for a long time.

Heavier cats like Dizzie Gillespie and Charlie Parker refused to get a conk.

Diz was fired from Cab Calloway's band for supposedly shooting spitballs at Cab's back during a performance. Years afterward, it was revealed that Diz was NOT the guy who shot those spitballs, but he did take the fall for the guy who did at the time.

Diz, of course, went on to be one of the inventors of a new form of jazz music, which he named -- Bebop. Playing "straightahead" from the nine forward over the changes.