Jazz ambassadors

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Poster advertising a 1959 Louis Armstrong concert in Beirut, Lebanon

Jazz ambassadors is the name often given to jazz musicians who were sponsored by the US State Department to tour Eastern Europe, the Middle East, central and southern Asia and Africa as part of cultural diplomacy initiatives to promote American values globally.[1][2][3]

Starting in 1956, the State Department began hiring leading American jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington to be "ambassadors" for the United States overseas, particularly to improve the public image of the US in the light of criticism from the Soviet Union around racial inequality and racial tension.[4]

Background[]

In the early 1950s, against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, decolonialisation and the Cold War, U.S. policy makers realised a new approach to American cultural diplomacy was needed.[5][6] President Eisenhower was particularly concerned with how internal race relations affected America's international reputation.[6] He saw the Cold War as a battle of ideas and that a cultural exchange program could address some of these concerns.[5] Congress formalised the President’s Special International Program for Participation in International Affairs, also known as the Cultural Presentations Program, in 1956. U.S. officials explained that the main purpose of the program was to "counteract Russian propaganda".[7]

The program was supervised by the State Department, who had final approval over artist selection,[8] and the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA). While the program included a wide variety of cultural and artistic forms, jazz was quickly embraced by the State Department due to being an indigenous American artform. Jazz's association with African-Americans also meant it could serve as a demonstration of racial equality and harmony.[9][10] The State Department made sure that selection panels only chose suitable artists, taking into account their musicianship, "Americanness" and integrity as well as the personal character and racial make-up of their bands.[8]

Jazz ambassador tours[]

First tour: Dizzy Gillespie, 1956[]

Dizzy Gillespie headed the first State Department sponsored tour in March 1956 which lasted for ten weeks.[11] Democratic Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. had long been an advocate for including jazz in cultural tours and was crucial in setting up Gillespie's tour.[12][13] An 18-piece interracial band led by Gillespie, with Quincy Jones as music director, performed in Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Greece and Argentina.[11][14] An American ambassador reported back that "Maybe we could have built a new tank for the cost of this tour, but you can't get as much goodwill out of a tank as you can out of Dizzy Gillespie's band."[11] The of success of Gillespie’s tour created a template for subsequent tours by other musicians.[1]

Later tours[]

A few years later, when Louis Armstrong arrived in the Congo as part of a tour through Africa, drummers and dancers paraded him through the streets on a throne. When he played in Katanga Province, a truce was called in a long-standing civil war, so combatants on both sides could go see him play.[11]

Since then, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the US State Department has sponsored the Jazz Ambassadors in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Alongside performances, they also conduct master classes and lecture-recitals for local musicians in addition to performing public concerts. The State Department also sponsors hip-hop artists, particularly in the Middle East, for similar purposes.[15]

Cultural legacy[]

The jazz ambassador tours exposed the American musicians to new musical styles and traditions from the countries they visited. Duke Ellington's albums Far East Suite, Latin American Suite and Afro-Eurasian Eclipse were inspired by his tours as a jazz ambassador.[16][14] Dizzy Gillespie's composition "Rio Pakistan" was similarly inspired by his 1956 tour.[17] Several albums recorded during Gillespie's tours were released including Dizzy in Greece and World Statesman.[14] Dave Brubeck's 1958 Jazz Impressions of Eurasia spawned from the music he had heard while touring as a jazz ambassador.[18] The syncopated rhythms Brubeck heard from Turkish street musicians inspired his standard Blue Rondo à la Turk.[19]

Dave Brubeck, who participated in the project, was critical of the experience. He and his wife Iola Brubeck later wrote a musical, The Real Ambassadors, based on his experiences.[20]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b Perrigo, Billy (2019-12-22). "How the U.S. Used Jazz as a Cold War Secret Weapon". Time. Retrieved 2021-10-28.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Schnabel, Tom (2011-08-12). "America's Jazz Ambassadors". KCRW. Retrieved 2021-10-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Folser-Lussier, Danielle (January 2012). "Music Pushed, Music Pulled: Cultural Diplomacy, Globalization, and Imperialism". Diplomatic History. 36 (1): 53–64. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2011.01008.x. ISSN 0145-2096. JSTOR 44376135.
  4. ^ Von Eschen 2006, pp. 3-4.
  5. ^ a b Davenport 2009, p. 38.
  6. ^ a b Von Eschen 2006, pp. 5-6.
  7. ^ Davenport 2009, pp. 38-39.
  8. ^ a b Davenport 2009, p. 39.
  9. ^ Von Eschen 2006, p. 6.
  10. ^ Davenport 2009, p. 59.
  11. ^ a b c d Kaplan, Fred (2009). 1959 : The Year Everything Changed. Wiley. p. 128.
  12. ^ "'The Jazz Ambassadors': Cold War Diplomacy And Civil Rights In Conflict". All Things Considered, NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  13. ^ Davenport 2009, p. 46.
  14. ^ a b c Henry, Clarence Bernard (2021). Global Jazz : A Research and Information Guide,. Milton: Taylor & Francis. pp. x–xi. ISBN 9780367724832.
  15. ^ Aidi, Hisham (16 April 2014). "Hip-Hop Diplomacy". Foreignaffairs.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  16. ^ Coyne, Rebecca E. (2021). "The Jazz Ambassadors: Intersections of American Foreign Power and Black Artistry in Duke Ellington's Far East Suite". Inquiries Journal. 13 (5).
  17. ^ Kamalakaran, Ajay (2019-09-20). "Jazz Diplomacy in South Asia". The Friday Times. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  18. ^ Fernandes, Naresh (2012-12-08). "America's original ambassador of cool". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  19. ^ Fred M. Kaplan (2009). 1959: The Year Everything Changed. New Jersey: J. Wiley & Sons. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-0-470-38781-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  20. ^ Von Eschen 2006, pp. 81, 89-90.

References[]

  • Davenport, Lisa E., (2009). Jazz Diplomacy: Promoting American in the Cold Ear, University Press of Mississippi
  • Von Eschen, Penny, (2006). Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War, Harvard University Press


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