jazz ambassadors - cold war hot war

Recently I downloaded an i-Player app for BBC radio and immediately searched for “jazz.” The first programme catching my ear was a 30 minutes’ slot about jazz musicians acting in ambassadorial roles for the USA government in the 1950s and 60s.

The USA at the time had a poor image internationally and the government hit upon the bright idea to polish off the tarnish by exploiting its most popular export – jazz. The US organised a series of goodwill concerts around the world, sending orchestras led by such luminaries as Ellington, Gillespie and Armstrong. Primarily they went to those places which could be regarded as trouble hot-spots, usually where the US government was frightened the USSR could gain a foot-hold. This was the era of cold war. Musicians travelling were troopers holding back a perceived rising red tide. Unlike Joshua, they were gifted with the task of maintaining walls, such as they existed.

For many musicians, the tours were life-changing experiences. They were appalled by the poverty, brutalism, hypocrisy and corruption of some of the places they visited. And mostly these were musicians having to fight their own battles for equality at home, but in the meantime they visited places such as Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Congo, Pakistan – and many others in their roles as jazz ambassadors extraordinary.

What hit home for me was that I recognised all the places where they performed not from the Times Atlas of the World, or from history lectures, but from yesterday's news. In other words, in over 60 years nothing has altered, unless conditions have worsened. Perhaps ideologies have changed; different mantras and slogans are chanted, but these places are still being torn apart by nothing but senseless self-interest. Shame! Shame on the international community. Shame on leaders and politicians world-wide. Shame on religions. Shame on you and me. Shame on the human race.