Jazz Ambassadors

In my profile of Louis Armstrong I mention his role as a jazz ambassador for the United States. Armstrong's travels abroad during the 1950s and 60s were part of a U.S. State Department program that sought to dispel the cold war image of America as culturally barbaric. Because of the musician's freedom to improvise, jazz was seen as a counterpart to this country's democratic political system.

Armstrong was not the only artist to give non-democratic states a taste of freedom. Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and others traveled to the Soviet Union, South America, and Africa, performing for and interacting with locals. They were typically greeted with cheers, and in some cases paraded through the streets.

Several images from this program's quest for hearts and minds are on display as part of photo exhibition entitled "Jam Session: America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World." Containing about 100 photographs collected from several libraries, the show opened at the Meridian International Center in Washington D.C. in April. It will remain there until July 13th, after which it moves to the Community Council for the Arts in Kinston, North Carolina. Read the New York Times article and view a slide show of some of the images on display.