S02E01 'Cool War - The Jazz Ambassadors'

During the Cold War, America recruited some of its most talented Jazz musicians in a cultural propaganda war against the Soviet Union. Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and Duke Ellington were all enlisted to perform in the Middle East, South America and post-colonial Africa, parts of the World where America’s interests were dictated by its geo-political strategy. Musicians that experienced racial and economic hardship at home were suddenly being celebrated by the American Government for their musical innovation, and representation of cultural freedom. Their place on the world stage and the celebration of Jazz music abroad altered the perception of the music at home. Jazz music would develop a political importance and establish itself during the 1950s as the distinctive American artform. This official State branding was problematic in many ways, and as we move through the season, we will discuss how some of the greatest American musicians and political activists of the 20th Century; Max Roach, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and John Coltrane among them, would revolutionize musical culture and the position of Jazz musicians in relation to American society. In doing so they would effectively deconstruct the Americanization of the music, re-infusing Jazz with an African heritage that was by the mid-50s in danger of being stripped away. The development of Jazz music is representative of the shifting social and economic patterns of the United States during this period. These artists managed to tie their music to the everyday social struggles of their people and the political challenges of the time, while at the same time creating music that was deeply spiritual and transcendental.

Tracks:

'Cherokee' - Duke Ellington

‘Koko’ - Charlie Parker

'Saturday Night Fish Fry' - Louis Jordan 

'Kush (Live)' - Dizzy Gillespie

'In A Persian Market' - Wilbur De Paris

'The Real Ambassador' - Dave & Iola Brubeck, Louis Armstrong

'The Eternal Triangle' - Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt & Sonny Rollins

 Books:

This Is Our Music: Free Jazz, the Sixties, and American Culture (The Arts and Intellectual Life in Modern America) Paperback - Iain Anderson

Soundtrack to a Movement: African American Islam, Jazz, and Black Internationalism - Richard Brent Turner

Freedom Sounds, Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz In Africa - Ingrid Monson