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Jazz ambassadors
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.
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.
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. President Eisenhower was particularly concerned with how internal race relations affected America's international reputation. He saw the Cold War as a battle of ideas and that a cultural exchange program could address some of these concerns. 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".
The program was supervised by the State Department, who had final approval over artist selection, and the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA). The program was also sponsored by the government owned broadcaster Voice of America (VOA). 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, as well as its racially mixed bands, also meant it could serve as a demonstration of racial equality and harmony. 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.
Louis Armstrong toured with State Department starting in November 1955. Negotiations were underway for Armstrong to perform in the USSR in 1957, a triumph for the State Department, but he abruptly canceled these plans because of the Little Rock school desegregation crisis, stating "The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell!".
Known as the Little Rock Crisis, this event highlighted the hypocrisy of the "US values" intended to be displayed through the jazz tours, namely democracy, equality, and freedom. All of which were denied to the nine students of Little Rock and more widely all African Americans as the struggle for civil rights, in the Southern states of the US, went on.
Jazz diplomacy played a more subtle and significant role in the Cold War than first envisioned, as not only Armstrong saw the irony in representing a country that preached democracy abroad while it was denied to some of its own citizens. Influential jazz musicians more often vocalized their opinions on, and often condemned, US government action (mainly concerning civil rights), the longer they played their highlighted jazz ambassador role. Ultimately US diplomats themselves played up Armstrong's initial defiance as an example of American's superiority in freedom of speech - "even a black man could criticize his own government and not be punished - " thus playing a weak hand well.
Dizzy Gillespie headed the first State Department sponsored tour in March 1956 which lasted for ten weeks. 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. An 18-piece interracial band led by Gillespie, with Quincy Jones as music director, performed across Europe, Asia and South America including Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Greece and Argentina. An American ambassador reported back that "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." The Gillespie's tour was successful in improving America's reputation and created a template for subsequent tours by other musicians. Gillespie drew criticism, however, for reports that while touring Brazil he had prioritised associating with local musicians over attending official events. He did not perform for the State Department again for over a decade.
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Jazz ambassadors
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.
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.
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. President Eisenhower was particularly concerned with how internal race relations affected America's international reputation. He saw the Cold War as a battle of ideas and that a cultural exchange program could address some of these concerns. 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".
The program was supervised by the State Department, who had final approval over artist selection, and the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA). The program was also sponsored by the government owned broadcaster Voice of America (VOA). 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, as well as its racially mixed bands, also meant it could serve as a demonstration of racial equality and harmony. 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.
Louis Armstrong toured with State Department starting in November 1955. Negotiations were underway for Armstrong to perform in the USSR in 1957, a triumph for the State Department, but he abruptly canceled these plans because of the Little Rock school desegregation crisis, stating "The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell!".
Known as the Little Rock Crisis, this event highlighted the hypocrisy of the "US values" intended to be displayed through the jazz tours, namely democracy, equality, and freedom. All of which were denied to the nine students of Little Rock and more widely all African Americans as the struggle for civil rights, in the Southern states of the US, went on.
Jazz diplomacy played a more subtle and significant role in the Cold War than first envisioned, as not only Armstrong saw the irony in representing a country that preached democracy abroad while it was denied to some of its own citizens. Influential jazz musicians more often vocalized their opinions on, and often condemned, US government action (mainly concerning civil rights), the longer they played their highlighted jazz ambassador role. Ultimately US diplomats themselves played up Armstrong's initial defiance as an example of American's superiority in freedom of speech - "even a black man could criticize his own government and not be punished - " thus playing a weak hand well.
Dizzy Gillespie headed the first State Department sponsored tour in March 1956 which lasted for ten weeks. 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. An 18-piece interracial band led by Gillespie, with Quincy Jones as music director, performed across Europe, Asia and South America including Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Greece and Argentina. An American ambassador reported back that "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." The Gillespie's tour was successful in improving America's reputation and created a template for subsequent tours by other musicians. Gillespie drew criticism, however, for reports that while touring Brazil he had prioritised associating with local musicians over attending official events. He did not perform for the State Department again for over a decade.