Dizzy and Ella in Jail

This is part of a fascinating story about trying to integrate performance halls in Houston in the 50s:

The full story is here (with a higher res picture), do read it. They were performing to an integrating hall and were arrested in between sets for “gambling”. The venue owner warned the police there’d be a riot if he had to cancel the show, so they brought them to the station, made them pay a fine (while signing autographs) and got them back in time for the next set.

In Dizzy Gillespie’s out-of-print autobiography, To Be, or not … to Bop, Granz stated that when he rented the Music Hall, he added a non-segregation clause to the contract. Granz removed the racial signs denoting the “white” versus “black” restrooms, and refused to pre-sell tickets in case patrons attempted to section off parts of the venue for whites only

Amazing story of the times. I love Dizzy sitting there in jail, looking great, completely relaxed.