Jazz in American Politics

I was interested in Jazz and how it affected America in the mid 20th century. After reading more about Jazz in Lisa Davenport's Jazz Diplomacy along with Satchmo Blows up the World by Penny Von Eschen, I decided to write a little about what I learned.

Jazz played an important role in American political strategy during the cold war years. Eisenhower used Jazz in his world wide cultural exchange program that began in 1954. The purpose of using Jazz was to reshape the perceptions of American democracy. During this long conflict with the Soviet Union the United States struggled to keep a positive world image when it came to race relations. The Civil Rights Movement was covered internationally through the media and many viewed the U.S. as a hypocrite nation. They saw the cruelest of injustices within the borders of the nation that promoted freedom and democracy. This issue was a defeat for the U.S. and a victory for the Soviet Union. This is why the government sent Jazz bands on tour around the world, to be ambassadors for the U.S. and show that African-Americans are valued and successful. Among these groups sent abroad were Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington.


Jazz was also a tool used by African-Americans to promote political and social change at home in the U.S. Jazz emerged from black culture and was used in expressing black identity. Jazz became a symbol of black alienation in a white supremacist society. Many black artists used these perceptions and features of Jazz to make political statements. Some say that the music paralleled the Civil Rights movement. The Harlem Renaissance helped influence this musical activism in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. One of the most explicit of this politically charged music was Max Roach’s “We insist: Freedom Now Suite”.

There were some Jazz musicians who used artistic achievement to gain America’s attention rather than political activism. One of these musicians is Duke Ellington. Some purists claim that Ellington along with others chose to conform to the new cold war politics instead of sticking with the traditional identity of Jazz. But, I believe Ellington was able to keep the African-American identity and feel along with making his name known throughout the world. He was able to make great contributions to America politically through his international tours as well as culturally with his modern big band Jazz. He was also the father of swing. Here is a clip of Ellington and his band playing on of his famous swing melodies, Satin Doll.