Jazz ambassadors
Videos
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 cultur
Poster advertising a 1959 Louis Armstrong concert in Beirut, Lebanon
Poster advertising Louis Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, and Count Basie to Arabic speaking audiences, 1960.
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Videos
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a 2024 documentary film directed by Johan Grimonprez about the Cold War episode that led American musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council
Jazz ambassadors
…America that was capable of celebrating and appreciating foreign local traditions. The jazz ambassadors are featured in the Oscar nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat. In the film, in 1961, the US State Department swings into action by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the…
Film poster