Dizzy on Tour

Today the United States is in a battle to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim global community--a battle that few think is going as well as it should, and many think has been a near-disaster. In the mid-1950's, the United States was in a similar battle (the Cold War) in many of the same places, combating the appeal of Communism. One thing that we did then was to send leading jazz artists of the time such as Louis Armstrong and, in this case, James Birks Gillespie, already known to the world as "Dizzy."

This piece from Day to Day (10/16/2006 - 5:11) describes Dizzy's tour and its role as cultural diplomacy. The person behind the tour was a New York Congressman from Harlem, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. His son Adam Clayton Powell, III, helped organize a concert celebrating Dizzy's tour. "Really interesting music attracts people, and then they hang around for a discussion of the politics," Powell, III says. "They may hate our policies, but they love our music."

Musings

• Here's an obvious jumping off point: Just which musicians or others would make a good cultural ambassador for the U.S. today in the Muslim world?
  
• There is some cultural diplomacy going on today, although usually not government sponsored--in sports.

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