Mapping Dizzy Gillespie's US State Department Tour

In the 1950s during the Cold War era and Civil Rights Movement, the United States wanted to fight Russian proganda and present America in a different lense of race relations in America to countries overseas. Intially, the U.S. State Department sent symphony orchestras and ballets on international tours to promote American culture, however, this euro-centric tradition of music not presenting the authentic American culture. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a United States represented promoted the idea of instead sending jazz bands as this fit a truer mold of American culture. (Kaplan, 2008)

Louis Armstrong was the first band leader chosen for the international tours. Armstrong was not pleased with President Eisenhower's decision during the Little Rock Crisis, and he declined the offer to be the first band leader for the tours.

Ultimately, Dizzy Gillespie was chosen as the first band leader to tour the Middle East. Gillespie did not shy away from addressing racial tensions, expressing the honor of being chosen first to bring jazz to Cold War torn areas but wouldn't stray from honest answers about racial tensions back home.

An approved budget of $92,000 for a ten-week tour was negotiated, the band members were chosen, a scholar accompanied the group to give lectures, and the group set off on the 10-week tour.

Dizzy is quoted in his autobiography, "You could see the political implications and feel them. Our tour was limited to countries which has treaties with the United States or where you had U.S. military bases: Persia, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, and Greece." (Gillespie, 417)

The band set out on a tour starting in Abadan, Iran. They played in Beirut, Lebanon; Damascus and Aleppo, Syria; Karachi and then Dacca, Pakistan; Zagreb and Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, and Athens Greece.

Benny Goodman traveled to South East Asia in 1957.

Dave Brubeck's tour was scheduled February-May 1958 with the Dave Brubeck quartet. You can view the  tour map  on the collection's website.

Duke Ellington's tour was in the year 1963 and was cut short due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. To learn more about this tour the Georgetown University Library  online exhibit. 

Louis Armstrong declined the initial invitation to the Middle East in 1955. Later he toured "unofficially" in 1960-1961 to what is know known as Ghana (Von Eschen, 60). The Louis Armstrong House Museum has more information on the  Louis in Ghana  on the website.

1. Davenport, Lisa E. Jazz Diplomacy : Promoting America in the Cold War Era. University Press of Mississippi, 2009.
2. Fosler-Lussier, Danielle. Music in America’s Cold War Diplomacy. University of California Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520959781.
3. Gillespie, Dizzy and Al Fraser. "World Statesman." In To Be, or Not ... to BOP : Memoirs. Doubleday, 1979.
4. Hatschek, Keith, Yolande Bavan.The Real Ambassadors : Dave and Iola Brubeck and Louis Armstrong Challenge Segregation. University Press of Mississippi, 2022.
5. Mueller, Darren. “The Ambassadorial LPs of Dizzy Gillespie: World Statesman and Dizzy in Greece.” Journal of the Society for American Music 10, no. 3 (2016): 239–69. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752196316000201.
6. Von Eschen, Penny M. Satchmo Blows up the World : Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Harvard University Press, 2004.
7. Woods, Phil, and Ted Panken. "Dizzy Atmosphere." In Life in E Flat : The Autobiography of Phil Woods. Cymbal Press, 2020.

1. John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie Collection, Vanderbilt University,  https://collections.library.vanderbilt.edu/repositories/2/resources/2009 
2. Marshall Stearns papers, artifacts, and audio recordings, Rutgers University Library Institute of Jazz Studies,  https://archives.libraries.rutgers.edu/repositories/6/resources/505 
3. The Benny Goodman Papers, Yale University Library,  https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/6/resources/10681 
4. The Brubeck Collection, Wilton Library,  https://www.brubeckcollection.org/ 
5. The Louis Armstrong House Museum,  https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/ 
6. Lewis C. Wendell, Jr. Collection on the United States Information Agency-Duke Ellington Goodwill Tour, Georgetown University Library,  https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/agents/people/806 

Gillespie, Dizzy and Al Fraser. "World Statesman." In To Be, or Not ... to BOP : Memoirs. Doubleday, 1979

Kaplan, Fred. "When Ambassadors Had Rhythm." New York Times. June 29, 2008.  https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/arts/music/29kapl.html 

This project realized by Professor Robbie Fry, began as a class project for the students in MUSL 3238 Global Jazz. The project continued with a group that were accepted to complete a library fellowship through Vanderbilt Libraries. Buchanan Library Fellows (fall 2024) worked with materials provided by Professor Fry and the students of MUSL 3238 as well as gathering their own research to add to the project.