Jazz Ambassadors

Professional Jazz musicians who were sent on diplomatic missions by the United States State Department, throughout the cold war period. The scope of such missions was to promote a more positive image of America, especially in those countries which were ideologically hostile to the US. Jazz, in fact, proved to be a very successful tool in breaking the cultural and ideological barriers which prevented productive diplomatic cooperation. Some of the musicians who collaborated with the State Department include Louis Armstrong, David Brubeck and Duke Ellington, among others.