Louis Plays at Airport in Ghana, 1956, Louis Armstrong House Museum
The Ambassadors transcended geographical frontiers and directly introduced jazz to foreign audiences. On March 21, 1956, Dizzy Gillespie, a famed jazz trumpeter, embarked on the first official tour sponsored by the State Department around the Middle East.
Be-Bop Charmer, April 1956, Library of Congress
Members of Dizzy Gillespie’s Group Sightseeing on the
Acropolis, 1956, Meridian Collection
Dizzy Gillespie’s Band Playing at the Studio of Radio El
Mundo, 1956, Meridian Collection
The tours spanned the globe and jazz legends such as Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and more reached new locales such as Asia, Africa, and Europe.
September 13, 1971, New York Times
October 20, 1968, New York Times
February 2, 1956, New York Times
Satchmo Swings in Congo, Universal-International News, October 31, 1960. National Archives
Finally, on May 30, 1962, Benny Goodman achieved what no American jazz act had before; he crossed the Iron Curtain and toured the Soviet Union in a true show of the power of music’s ability to cross geographical frontiers.
Benny Goodman Takes the USSR by Storm, 1962, Meridian Collection
Benny Goodman performs for a young audience in Red Square, Moscow, 1962,
Meridian Collection
July 20, 1962, New York Times