Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War Review

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(More customer reviews)Von Eschen is a historian of the cold war, and her book overlaps other recent works detailing how the demands of the cold war forced otherwise cautious presidential administrations to back civil rights and government support for the arts when they really would have preferred to buckle under to conservative congressional lobbies and their own reactionary impulses. The overlap is unfortunate, as without reading May Duziak's "Cold War Civil Rights" and Stephen Stonor Saunders' "The Cultural Cold War" this book leaves some small holes that may nevertheless prove confusing at times.
In a nutshell, this is Von Eschen's premise: in the 1950's the Eisenhower administration was getting hammered by the Soviets over civil rights atrocities in the south, and losing its influence over the newly emerging nations of Africa and Asia. In addition, the Soviets were sending symphony orchestras and ballets around the world to popular acclaim. America couldn't match them, because the state of the arts in this country was so bad. So Ike, who loathed both civil rights and jazz, started sending integrated jazz bands overseas to demonstrate racial progress and show off a form of cultural expression the Russians couldn't match. Dizzy Gillespie was the first, in 1956, followed by Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman and others during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. For the artists, it was a chance to fly the flag for jazz, keep big bands employed in the hardscrabble days of the 60's, and prove their joint loyalty to nation and race.
After a bit of a disorganized start in which she can't decide between following a chronological or artist-based organization, the author wisely settles on the latter. Although Von Eschen is no jazz critic, she avoids any flubs by simply staying out of the way and sticking to what she does know. For the jazz fan/historian, the highlights include a wonderful account of the joint Dave & Iola Brubeck/Louis Armstrong project "The Real Ambassadors," a musical comedy meant for Broadway but only performed once at Newport. It was based on their experiences as State Department representatives and good-naturedly sends up everyone involved. (It was studio recorded in the weeks before Newport and is available from Amazon as a Columbia CD). Also, there is a detailed acccount of Benny Goodman's 1963 disaster of a trip to Russia, where Benny managed to alienate the Russians, the State Department, and his own musicians.
In all, a well-written book. Jazzbos will be happy as long as they keep in mind that this is not exclusively a jazz book and are willing to stick with it through the cultural and political history.

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