{"id":31414,"date":"2018-03-31T07:09:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T11:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=31414"},"modified":"2018-03-31T07:09:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-31T11:09:24","slug":"wunc-on-jazz-americas-coolest-weapon-during-the-cold-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/wunc-on-jazz-americas-coolest-weapon-during-the-cold-war\/","title":{"rendered":"WUNC on Jazz: “America\u2019s Coolest Weapon During The Cold War”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Willis<\/a><\/p>\n

(Source: WUNC’s The State of Things<\/a> via Kim Elliott)<\/p>\n

During the Cold War, the U.S. Department of State sent jazz musicians around the world to sell the American way of life. This initiative took place in the 1950s, during segregation and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Jazz was gaining popularity on the international stage partly because of a Voice of America program hosted by Willis Conover, and partly because jazz musicians, like Louis Armstrong, played international tours.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government took note of this popularity and decided to send musicians as representatives of the country, even as those representatives didn\u2019t have the full benefits of the freedom they were touting. Many of these multi-racial, multi-gender groups were not allowed to perform within the boundaries of the United States due to Jim Crow.<\/p>\n

Host Frank Stasio talks to\u00a0Hugo Berkeley<\/a>, director of the new documentary \u201cThe Jazz Ambassadors: The Untold Story of America\u2019s Coolest Weapon in the Cold War<\/a>.\u201d Historian\u00a0Adriane Lentz-Smith joins<\/a>\u00a0the conversation to put the story of the jazz ambassadors into context. Lentz-Smith is a professor of history at Duke University who served as an advisor to the documentary. She\u2019s also the author of \u201cFreedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I<\/a>\u201d (Harvard University Press\/2011). \u201cThe Jazz Ambassadors\u201d screens at the\u00a0Full Frame Documentary Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0in Durham on\u00a0Sunday, April 8<\/a>.[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
Click here to read interview highlights and listen to the full interview on WUNC.<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: WUNC’s The State of Things via Kim Elliott) During the Cold War, the U.S. Department of State sent jazz musicians around the world to sell the American way of life. This initiative took place in the 1950s, during segregation and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Jazz was gaining popularity on the international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[442,3,305,43],"tags":[3067,820,941,940,6934],"class_list":["post-31414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-shortwave-radio","tag-cold-war-radio","tag-jazz","tag-voa-jazz","tag-willis-conover","tag-wunc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-8aG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2895,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/willis-conovers-jazz-a-secret-weapon-in-the-cold-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":31414,"position":0},"title":"Willis Conover’s Jazz: A secret weapon in the Cold War","author":"Thomas","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"David Goren, Shortwaveology\u00a0author and producer for\u00a0Jazz at Lincoln Center, released a JazzStories Podcast today featuring VOA broadcaster, Willis Conover. Willis Conover is a noted name in both Jazz music and international broadcasting. His characteristic deep and articulate voice guided many shortwave listeners behind the iron curtain, into the realm of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14144,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/the-wsj-features-willis-conover\/","url_meta":{"origin":31414,"position":1},"title":"The WSJ features Willis Conover","author":"Thomas","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Wall Street Journal via Any Sennitt) The Radio Broadcaster Who Fought the Cold War Abroad but Remained Unheard at Home By DOUG RAMSEY During the Cold War, listeners in captive nations behind the Iron Curtain huddled around radios in basements and attics listening to the imposing bass-baritone voice of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8795,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/shortwave-radio-recordings-voice-of-america-circa-1968\/","url_meta":{"origin":31414,"position":2},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of America, circa 1968","author":"Thomas","date":"February 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows and, thanks to his generosity, we will be posting these recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14591,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/the-unt-willis-conover-archive-is-now-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":31414,"position":3},"title":"The UNT Willis Conover Archive is now online","author":"Thomas","date":"September 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Regular\u00a0SWLing Post readers know that I\u2019m a huge fan of the late\u00a0Willis Conover. I just learned, via the Arts Journal blog, about an amazing collection of Conover\u00a0audio archives that are now being shared online: \"The music program at the University of North Texas has graduated hundreds of jazz artists who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13104,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/support-a-willis-conover-us-postage-stamp\/","url_meta":{"origin":31414,"position":4},"title":"Support a Willis Conover US postage stamp","author":"Thomas","date":"May 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're a fan of the iconic Willis Conover, you might consider signing this petition supporting a postage stamp in his honor. Marie Lamb writes: Those of us at the Willis Conover Facebook page are trying to get support for a postage stamp in honor of the great Voice of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7095,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/arturo-sandoval-listened-to-voa-every-single-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":31414,"position":5},"title":"Arturo Sandoval listened to VOA “every single day”","author":"Thomas","date":"August 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Voice of America provided Cuban\u00a0jazz\u00a0trumpeter,\u00a0pianist\u00a0and\u00a0composer, Arturo Sandoval with a source of inspiration through Jazz. In a recent interview with NPR, Sandoval stated: \"We used to listen every day, every single day, [to] Voice of America. [It] was a shortwave radio program, and they play everything in jazz music. That\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"220px-Arturo_Sandoval_photo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/220px-Arturo_Sandoval_photo-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}