Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State Dept. announce their 10-band diplomatic corps
Jazz wins hearts and minds. It’s a rhythmic diplomat, reflective and conversant by its nature. That’s the idea behind the Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad, a project produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center and sponsored by grants from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, now embarking on its seventh series of journeys.
Rhythm Road is inspired by the Jazz Ambassador program, founded in 1955 by Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. of Harlem, which sent Dizzy Gillespie and his 18-piece band to southern Europe, the Middle East and south Asia, and devised similar missions for Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck.
Today’s jazz ambassadors sent on 4-to-6-week tours of regions around the globe that wouldn’t otherwise get much exposure to this element of American culture, perform, teach workshops, give demonstrations and jam with the locals. This year’s crop—10 bands chosen from a pool of 110 applicants—ranges from traditional quartets to performers of jazz-influenced Americana.
Four New York-based jazz bands make the 2011 lineup: the Ari Roland Quartet and the Kate McGarry Quartet, both veterans of the Road; the Jed Levy Quartet, and Paul Beaudry & Pathways. There are two bluegrass bands in the mix, Mountain Quickstep of upstate New York and Earth String Band of Massachusetts, and two southern gospel ensembles, the Grammy nominated Melvin Williams Group of Louisiana; and Oscar Williams, Jr. and the Band of Life, who traveled the Rhythm Road to Lebanon in 2010. One Urban/Hip-Hop group makes this year’s cut: the New Jersey-based, Legacy.
Bands are selected not only for their musical excellence but equally for demonstrated interest in education and outreach. Says Margaret Ames, director of the State Department’s Cultural Programs Division, “We put a lot of emphasis on trying to find people who are genuinely interested in exploring cultures outside of the United States, sharing what they know with people who might not have had any experience with jazz or roots music and opening themselves up to this kind of person to person exchange.”
As far as choosing the five or six countries to which each band will travel, Ames says, “It’s a very complicated process.” It’s not only about reaching “audiences in places that may not necessarily have access to Americans or American musicians,” she says but also ensuring “that the Rhythm Road supports U.S. foreign policy interests. We consult with our colleagues in other parts of the State Department to make sure we’re going to countries with whom we have important relationships, and where music and cultural diplomacy can have an impact.”
Past tours have visited Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Columbia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Fiji, Honduras, Kuwait, Morocco, Nicaragua, Philippines, and Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
Jazz at Lincoln Center works closely with embassy staff in these countries to plan the daily logistics of each tour and help coordinate outreach activities, which have included master classes for local musicians, workshops in schools, and visits to orphanages and refugee camps. They also conduct pre-tour trainings.
“That’s something that Jazz at Lincoln Center invests a lot of time in,” says tour director, Susan John. The first step is to “convene all of our ten bands to for an intro to the program and a crash course in touring. We spend a big chunk of time on educational work.”
John was greatly inspired, she says by the 2011 orientation, “It was a really great way to watch a musician community to form,” she says. “You know, we have fiddle players, a hiphop MC with a jazz bassists and a trumpeter in a huddle which is getting really excited about rhythm, and our gospel singer comes and joins them…it was honestly a beautiful coalescing of all of these forces, the magic of musicians in a room.”
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