Jazz has, from its inception, been a music of political and cultural negotiations. The music was forged in the multi-cultural gumbo of turn-of-the-century New Orleans, exported early to Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, and came to symbolize the ongoing struggle for civil rights in the United States. During the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, renown jazz musicians were sent to political ‘hot spots’ so that the U.S. State Department could exert ‘soft power’ over its political rivals and court potential allies, while also trying to counter prevalent criticism from abroad that the U.S. was a ‘Jim Crow’ nation, rife with structural racism and inequality. African American musicians who agreed to participate in the ‘Jazz Ambassadors’ program had multiple and frequently conflicting motivations, filled with enthusiasm for the opportunity to share their aspirational music and ideas with the world and a reticence to serve as political pawns for a nation that too often devalued their contributions, even as their music was celebrated internationally for its ‘democratic’ principles.
The course will explore the politically fraught moment of the ‘Jazz Ambassadors’ as well as more recent examples of ‘musical diplomacy.’ Together, we will situate these complex issues in the context of an increasingly cosmopolitan, pluralistic and globalized era. Students will be encouraged to research other musical genres and examples of ‘musical diplomacy’ and cultural exchange, and we will take advantage of being in Washington D.C. to plan excursions and class visits.
About the Instructor:
David Borgo is an ethnomusicologist (Ph.D. 1999, UCLA), jazz saxophonist, and Professor in the Department of Music at UC San Diego. He joined the faculty in 2002 and served as the Department Chair from 2017-2020. He is affiliated faculty in Ethnic Studies and Cognitive Science, and he received a 2020 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Teaching Award.