Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat pt.2: The Jazz Ambassadors

We’re continuing our series of episodes inspired by the 2024 documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat with an examination of some of the film’s key characters: the so-called ‘Jazz Ambassadors’, a group of mostly black US musicians sent around the world to (unwittingly) promote American soft power during the Cold War. Tim and Jeremy give a brief history of the emergence of the CIA in the post-war USA, explain the role of NATO, and detail a few of the great many instances of US interference in newly decolonised states around the globe. We hear about Louis Armstrong in Ghana, Dizzy Gillespie’s tours to West Asia and revisit Max Roach from our previous show, alongside Brubeck, Stravinsky and… Bing Crosby. The guys discuss these various attempts to portray America as a haven of free self expression at home while it repeatedly violated sovereignty and democracy abroad. Also included in this show: Fantasia, the Military Industrial Complex, the Kennedy assassination and some speculative White House tripping. 

Edited by Matt Huxley.

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Tracklist:

Aaron Copeland - Fanfare for the Common Man
Bing Crosby - The Isle of Innisfree
Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Louis Armstrong - (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue
Louis Armstrong - Spooks
Dizzy Gillespie - Tour de Force
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Max Roach - Triptych: Prayer / Protest / Peace
The Byrds - He Was a Friend of Mine
Books:
William Blum - Killing Hope
Susan Williams - White Malice