Allen Michie on Nostr: Jazztodon artist of the week: Dizzy Gillespie! In 1960, his booking agency made ...
Jazztodon artist of the week: Dizzy Gillespie!
In 1960, his booking agency made “Dizzy Gillespie for President” buttons, originally as a joke, but the more Gillespie talked politics, the more serious it all sounded.
“Anybody coulda made a better president than the ones we had in those times, dillydallying about protecting blacks in the exercise of their human rights,” he wrote in his autobiography.”
“I was the only choice for a thinking man.”
He started selling the buttons in 1963, donating the money to the Congress of Racial Equality.
As the buzz surrounding his campaign started to grow louder, Gillespie began naming his cabinet members, albeit prematurely.
Drummer Max Roach would be his minister of war, Louis Armstrong would serve as head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Miles Davis would be in charge of the CIA.
The campaign dissolved in early 1964, and although Gillespie considered another run in 1972, his short stint in politics came to a close.
#dizzygillespie #jazz
In 1960, his booking agency made “Dizzy Gillespie for President” buttons, originally as a joke, but the more Gillespie talked politics, the more serious it all sounded.
“Anybody coulda made a better president than the ones we had in those times, dillydallying about protecting blacks in the exercise of their human rights,” he wrote in his autobiography.”
“I was the only choice for a thinking man.”
He started selling the buttons in 1963, donating the money to the Congress of Racial Equality.
As the buzz surrounding his campaign started to grow louder, Gillespie began naming his cabinet members, albeit prematurely.
Drummer Max Roach would be his minister of war, Louis Armstrong would serve as head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Miles Davis would be in charge of the CIA.
The campaign dissolved in early 1964, and although Gillespie considered another run in 1972, his short stint in politics came to a close.
#dizzygillespie #jazz