Keys to diplomacy: In photo exhibition, Kool Kat sings the blues in K-town

From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, many jazz greats travelled as musical envoys.

KARACHI:

As the political waters started to heat up during the Cold War, in 1955 Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr suggested that jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie should be sent abroad as a goodwill ambassador. The Eisenhower administration agreed, and in 1956 Gillespie, also known as the Kool Kat Diplomat, set off for a series of successful tours in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia.

The US state department was clearly impressed by the positive feedback it received as it started working on another series of musical tours in a bid to help smooth over the war-like atmosphere. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, many jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Clark Terry and Benny Carter travelled non-stop, hopping from continent to continent, as musical envoys.

On Saturday, ‘The Jam Session’, a photographic account of these jazz ambassadors went on display at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture gallery. There were photos of Clark Terry and his jolly giants at a gig in Karachi in 1978. Who would have thought that the man behind the Flintstones’ theme, Bobby A and Straight no chaser got Karachi tapping its feet and bouncing under the shade of a shamiyana (tent)?

Indeed, the city had a reputation of being quite hip and happening even before that. There was a photo of the Kool Kat himself, jamming with a snake charmer by the sea in 1956. The snake is slithering around his neck while singer Dottie Salters and trombonist Melba Liston laugh away.

In an article on Gillespie’s tour, the writer claims that the language of diplomacy ought to be translated into a score for a bop trumpet. Another article on Gillespie’s tour says that in Karachi the musician refused to play until the doors were open to the ‘ragamuffin children’ because the people they were trying to befriend could not afford to buy tickets.

Pianist Dave Brubeck set off on a musical journey in 1958 and was the first jazz ambassador to go across the Iron Curtain. He came to Pakistan towards the end of the tour and also popped over to Afghanistan and Iraq. He used to say that no dictatorship could tolerate jazz as it was a sign of freedom.

Duke Ellington travelled for 10 years, from 1963 to 1973, spreading the message of music, love and peace. His music was so influential that during one of the tours, a Polish jazz enthusiast wanted to know why artists didn’t rule the world. The Duke also had a gig in Lahore in 1963 at Bagh-e-Jinnah. The photo shows the band jamming for a mesmerised audience. A copy of the ticket shows that it cost just Rs10 and Rs5 for adults and Rs3 for students. He also received a letter from the White House, signed by former US President Richard Nixon, thanking him for his outstanding work and performance in the Soviet Union.

One of the most interesting photos at the event was that of a band leader, clarinetist and swing musician Benny Goodman, also known as the Ambassador of Swing. He set off to Thailand, Burma and Japan in 1956 and went on to become fast friends with King Bhumibol Adulyadey of Thailand, who was a saxophonist, clarinetist and trumpeter. The two men used to jam together quite often.

And so, with all of these photos - Armstrong on a camel, being filmed by his wife Lucille in Egypt in 1961, Benny Goodman and Dizzy shaking hands with heads of state - the IVS space gives you the feel you get from flipping through old copies of People Magazine.

The event has been organised by the Meridian International Centre and US Department of State. It has been curated by Prof. Penny von Eschen from the University of Michigan and Dr Curtis Sandberg from the Centre. The photographs are on loan from the Smithsonian, University of the Pacific, Dave Usher Collection, University of Florida, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Yale University, Louis Armstrong House Museum, University of Arkansas, University of North Texas and the Woody Herman Society.

The Jam Sessions runs through till Saturday, January 28.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2012.