What was dizzy gillespie childhood like?
I just read Jonah Winter’s book called “Dizzy” to my 5-year old son and was shocked to learn Dizzy’s father was abusive to him as a child. Wanting to know more, I found the following passage written by Alyn Shipton: Mr. Gillespie’s origins certainly did not presage a life of peace. Born in Cheraw, South Carolina, on 21 October 1917, Mr. Gillespie had a rough childhood. His strict father – a bricklayer and Saturday night musician – often whipped him, and the young Mr. Gillespie was correspondingly pugnacious. “I used to fight anybody, big, small, white or colored,” Mr. Gillespie once said. “I was just a devil, a strong devil.
