Jazz ambassadors

Poster advertising a 1959 Louis Armstrong concert in Beirut, Lebanon

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.[1][2][3]

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.[4]

  1. ^ Perrigo, Billy (2019-12-22). "How the U.S. Used Jazz as a Cold War Secret Weapon". Time. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  2. ^ Schnabel, Tom (2011-08-12). "America's Jazz Ambassadors". KCRW. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  3. ^ Folser-Lussier, Danielle (January 2012). "Music Pushed, Music Pulled: Cultural Diplomacy, Globalization, and Imperialism". Diplomatic History. 36 (1): 53–64. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2011.01008.x. ISSN 0145-2096. JSTOR 44376135.
  4. ^ Von Eschen 2006, pp. 3-4.