In early May 1956, the U.S. Department of State asked Dizzy Gillespie, who with his squad finished his Asian tour to rush to Athens, where during the anti-British and anti-American riots students began throwing stones at the U.S. embassy building after the United States government failed to support the United Nations motion to release Cyprus from British rule. “Students rejected stones and listened with delight to Dizzy,” headlined newspapers after a performance at the university.
“To avoid a planet war, you gotta win a cold war,” said president Dwight Eisenhower in February 1953, delivering a state message. The process of decolonizing Asia and Africa continued, and influences on these continents were at stake in the rivalry of the USSR and the US. In August 1953, he established the United States Information Agency. "There is widespread misunderstanding in the planet of the United States and the communists are eager to benefit from this in lies spread about us," said Theodore Streibert, the first head of this government agency. Its task was to advance the ideals and achievements of the United States and to counter russian propaganda through information and cultural programmes.
The function of jazz in the fight for global influence
In order to execute her tasks more effectively, she was subjected to a government radio station Voice of America – Voice of America – whose shortwave broadcasts in respective languages were received through respective relay stations to countries on respective continents. In January 1955, the radio station program was enriched with a broadcast by Willis Conover Music USA Jazz Hour. Soon millions of people from different cultures listened regularly Jazz HoursBilly Strayhorn's song started Take the ‘A’ Train, recorded by Duke Ellington's orchestra. Many of them had never known jazz before.
The propaganda apparatus of the USSR presented at home and in the planet in the worst way its top rival and enemy (and vice versa), frequently lying, but accusations of racism And racial segregation was not false. Hypocrisis was to proclaim lofty ideals in the planet and advance American democracy, while black citizens were deprived of many rights and suffered force from white citizens.
In August 1955, in the town of Money close Greenwood, Mississippi, 2 specified citizens dragged black 14-year-old Emmett Till out of the home of his uncle's grandfather, due to the fact that 1 of them's wife told her that Till had addressed her with obscene words and whistled. A fewer days later, Tillahatchie's massacred corpse was recovered from the River. After a brief court trial of the accused of kidnapping him and killing the trial jury, which included only whites, she issued a ruling: – Innocent.
A lynching on a fourteen-year-old black boy and a defaming trial provoked outrage worldwide and intensified the activities of the civilian Rights Movement, which was now led by Martin Luther King Jr. In response, Ku Klux Klan came to life. On the state department, the Information Agency, the media and various cultural projects of the United States' image as a country to follow erstwhile and for all appeared stains.
Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles, State Secretary, and many another politicians and enlightened citizens realized that racism and racial segregation compromised the country, unfortunately the proposals to delegate segregation in all areas of life have encountered opposition and in legislature – mainly from the parties representing the confederate states of Senators and Members of the home of Representatives. small of that: in confederate states it was common to torpedo the laws or decisions of the ultimate Court of Change in favour of black citizens. In May 1954, the ultimate Court ruled that the application of segregation in education – separate schools for whites and blacks – was unconstitutional, but inactive for respective years in many cities South was protested against integration schools.
Despite frequent criticism by the United States for racial discrimination against the country, there was no threat of losing conventional allies in Western Europe, but he could lose to the USSR for influence in Asia and Africa for this reason. The warming of America's image on these continents was then greatly served by African American Adam Clayton Powell Jr, a associate of the home of Representatives of Congress, representing Harlem. First, with his attitude in Bandung, Indonesia, at the first conference of representatives of the peoples of Asia and Africa in April 1955 – representatives of countries that have already gained independence, and countries that have moved to independence. He flew there on his own as a writer due to the fact that the government, and legislature were opposed to sending his observer to this conference – they were afraid of hostile acceptance due to racism and racial segregation at home. Powell's participation was all the more opposed to being an active civilian rights activist.
To surprise everyone Powell defended his country there. In short, racism and segregation are a curse, but America is moving towards full democracy; in addition, it is simply a proponent of the decolonization and self-determination of nations (whether or not it truly would require a separate development), ergo – is your ally. His position was based on fear of the spread of communist ideology in Asia and Africa. Upon his return, he was enthusiastically welcomed to legislature and the White House.
Jazz Ambassadors
Shortly thereafter, he proposed to usage jazz in cultural diplomacy. It is impossible to compete with the Russians in classical music and ballet, he produced, let us present jazz, American music, our first contribution to planet culture. Jazz has long been known in Western Europe, the biggest American jazz musicians have performed there, they have besides travelled to Latin American countries and Australia; Powell wanted them to conquer hearts and minds and another continents. He explained that performances of black or mixed racially teams would improve America's image in areas of the planet inhabited by non-white races.
That jazz performed by the top musicians may have been an effective weapon in America's cultural offensive, evidenced by thousands of letters that Willis Conover received from various parts of the planet from grateful for his Jazz Hour. And quickly, even in 1955, the Jazz Ambassadors program was created, organized by the Information Agency and sponsored by the State Department.
‘The wapon that we will usage is the cool one“We’ll be utilizing cool, harmless weapons,” he said, with the trumpet in his hand, Dizzy Gillespie, the first jazz ambassador sponsored by the State Department, before leaving in March 1956 with his squad at the mentioned start, a fewer months tour. Photos and movie footage of Gillespie's band's concerts in Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Greece showed full halls of enthusiastic listeners, most of whom had not listened to live jazz before. Furora in the planet took a image of Gillespie whispering a trumpet game of cobra in a square in Karachi.
Dizzy Gillespie. Photo: Wikimedia Commons CC0In the same year, at the end of May, Edward R. Murrow, a writer and movie documentaryist, who then prepared a movie about Louis Armstrong, arranged his journey to Accra, the capital of the British Gold Coast colony. Over 1 100 1000 delighted Africans listened to Armstrong's performance with the All Stars band on a free space. The next day in the performance hall among his listeners was Kwame Nkrumah – little than a year later Prime Minister of independent Ghana.
He had tears in his eyes erstwhile Armstrong sang Black and Blue, about being treated cruelly due to the colour of black man's skin. Here's a curiosity, in the speech Black and Blue: Armstrong with the band he played in Accra could not play in fresh Orleans, his hometown, due to the fact that he included 2 white musicians, and the performances of mixed racially teams in confederate states were then banned.
Jazz behind the Iron Curtain
Jazz, as Powell predicted, proved to be an effective weapon in the United States cultural offensive in “new areas”. In May 1957 the Information Agency and the State Department began preparing Armstrong's team's tour of the USSR, but after in September in small Rock, Arkansas, a crowd of segregationists blocked, with the approval of the state governor, 9 black students access to the school to which they were admitted—previously white school students—and president Eisenhower delayed the intervention, Armstrong refused to leave.
Eisenhower accused of double-licensing, the government sent to hell, the state government accused of breaking the constitution. Although Eisenhower made it possible for black students to start their education in their school of choice in the same month, information about the small stone scandal had already spread around the world, and Armstrong did not change his decision. America suffered another image blow. As if this were not enough, on October 4, 1957, which is just after the United States-composing small stone events, the USSR launched an orbital Earth satellite – Sputnik 1. This is defeat, this is triumph.
In February 1958, as part of the Jazz programme, Ambassadors embarked on the Euro-Asian tour Dave Brubeck "with his mixed racially mixed quartet (Contrabassist Eugene Wright was African American – A.J.) to repair the harm to America's image caused by the small stone scandal," says documentary narrator Hugo Berkeley The Jazz Ambassadors 2018. In Poland, to which Brubeck arrived in March, the image of America did not request to be repaired; everyone or almost all loved America uncritically – for chewing gum, coca-cola, jeans, westerns and freedom. And for the jazz that symbolized freedom.
Probably this pushy russian propaganda caused that in news of the persecution of black Americans Poles did not believe much. Poland was already a very liberalised country at the time – thanks a large deal Jazz hr Willis Conover – with its jazz festivals, large musicians, jazz clubs, the monthly "Jazz", but the concerts of the Brubeck Quartet (in 7 cities) were the first concerts of the American jazz band to play modern jazz, and the first specified concerts in the country behind the Iron Curtain.
Louis Armstrong in 1953. photograph Herman Hiller/Wikimedia Commons CC0When in 1960 most African states had already enjoyed independence, Louis Armstrong was persuaded to take a several-month African tour of fourteen countries sponsored by the State Department. America's most celebrated jazz ambassador was accepted everywhere as a king. In the Congo, to which he arrived at the end of October 1960, the parties launched a period earlier the armed conflict suspended their weapons on the days of his concerts. "This was Armstrong's fame," says 1 commentator in Berkeley's film.
Armstrong was not full aware of this conflict, but in fresh York City before the UN building there were protests against the CIA's engagement in the overthrow and arrest of Patrice Lumumba, the first free Congo Prime Minister to be attached to a patch of pro-communist politics; his opponents, the “our sons of bitches” of Mobutu Sese Seko and Czombe, guaranteed Western corporations unhindered access to the country's mineral assets.
Three months after Armstrong's visit, the Congolese acorners, from the wake of Belgium and with the approval of the United States, shot Lumumba, then quartered his body and dissolved it in sulfuric acid. Many streets in different cities were named after Patrice Lumumba in Peerelów Poland; after 1989 the name of most of them was changed – as part of the removal of the remains of communism. The name will most likely change eventually. possibly on Mobutu Sese Seko and Czombe?
It's time to fulfill your promises.
Despite the damaged reputation of the United States and the emergence in tension between Washington and Moscow, the State Department managed to push through the tour of Benny Goodman's band after the USSR – in May and June 1962. It was another success program for Jazz ambassadors. “I don’t like jazz,” he told Goodman Khrushchev during this tour – it’s specified a boom, boom, boom, boom, boom”, but without his approval the event would not be possible.
"American Negroes have been assured for a 100 years since the abolition of slavery and now, understandablely, are pushing for change," said Duke Ellington in an interview with a Swedish journalist, shown in Berkeley's film. "They shed blood in all war, enrich culture, and music, now known as American, is of course mostly black music".
Disappointed by John Kennedy's inactivity to civilian rights issues – announced after his inauguration the restoration of America's prestige, but in this case he did small – black Americans occupied in public space places reserved for white (famous sit-ins) and organized protest marches. In April 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, police drove the participants of a peaceful protest march, among which were children, glaring streams of water from hydrant hoses and cheering their dogs. The scenes shown by many tv stations from this violent intervention, during which blood was poured, shook millions of people worldwide.
It yet moved Kennedy. "The time has come for the nation to fulfill its promise," he said in his tv speech. erstwhile Ellington promised shortly after this to prepare and submit to legislature a bill guaranteeing the full rights of the black Americans, Ellington accepted the proposal of diplomats implementing the program to the Jazz ambassadors and a fewer months later flew with his squad on a fewer months' tour to India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and respective mediate East countries. He and the members of his squad enjoyed a warm reception from the audience and people, unfortunately during this tour they received tragic news from the country.
On September 15, 9 days after their departure, the detonation of respective dynamite sticks planted under the steps of the back entrance to the Birmingham Baptist church, where civilian rights activists frequently met, broke the wall, killed 4 black girls and injured more than 20 people. On November 22, Dallas was killed by John Kennedy's bomber bullets. This tragedy interrupted the tour; Ellington's squad returned to the country. On July 2, 1964, president Lyndon Johnson signed a civilian Rights Act that he pushed through in legislature – her task was prepared by the Kennedy administration – which introduced a ban on discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex and national origin.
Following the March 1965 protests organized by the civilian Rights Movement in Alabama, in which respective people died as a consequence of violent police action, Johnson pushed through legislature and then signed the Election Rights Act on August 6, that year, which delegates any obstacles to the usage of voting rights by black citizens. Although these (torped for any time in confederate states) laws did not destruct racism or racial violence, they brought America closer to full democracy.
300 years of briefing
"Black musicians were sent to represent a country where their rights were limited," noted Iola Brubeck, Dave Brubeck's wife. A country where there were inactive shameful laws, Called Jim Crow's laws. But you couldn't string their lips. Black and Blue, the song of racial protest, was in Armstrong's permanent repertoire, singing it during commercial tour around the planet as well as during state-sponsored tour.
“My only responsibility is my skin/ What I did that I was inactive bruised” (due to beating). We know how Satchmo reacted to the school block at small Rock. Gillespie, invited before going on tour to the State Department for a briefing, which is simply a short information-instruction briefing, said he had a 300-year-old briefing behind him. Then he developed this statement: “I know how we were treated all along. If they ask me about these matters, I will not justify America.”
A good way to deal with the intellectual discomfort that black musicians on official, "state" tour may have experienced was found in Berkeley's movie Charlie Persip: "I didn't think of myself as America's ambassador. In my view, I was the drummer of Gillespie’s band.” These jazz ambassadors of America were jazz ambassadors. Certainly, music with a spirit of freedom, referred to as a metaphor of democracy, warmed the image of the United States to any degree “in areas for seduction”, that is, Asia and Africa, but their tour was primarily a triumph of music created by African Americans and developed mainly by African Americans. Jazz easy overcome cultural barriers, and more so – he settled permanently in fresh areas. Just like classical music.
Finally, reflection – which has surely come to millions of people: without spirituality negro spirituals, without the excitement of jazz and “black” dance, blues sadness, “black” literature, many spices added to American life by black Americans, American culture would be much poorer.
* Oh, yeah *
I utilized the movie. TheJazz Ambassadors Hugo Berkeley, from Penny Von Eschen's book Satchmo Blows Up the World, from articles in the diary “The fresh York Times” and the weekly “Time” and “The fresh Yorker” and from respective another sources.
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Andrzej Żurek – in Poland he graduated from law and in Canada he finished 2 years of English. It's mostly based on translations. He published, among others, in “Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Powszechny Tygodnik” and in the quarterly “Fraza”. He is the author of Mamiko's 2021 fresh Professor and Besseviser. He lives in Canada.
