The Real Ambassadors

The Real Ambassadors

Original Cast Recording
Music Dave and Iola Brubeck
Louis Armstrong
Productions 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival

The Real Ambassadors is a jazz musical developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Dave and Iola Brubeck, in collaboration with Louis Armstrong and his band. It addressed the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, the music business, America’s place in the world during the Cold War, the nature of God, and a number of other themes. It was set in a fictional African nation called Talgalla, and its central character was based on Armstrong.[1]

Contents

Background

In writing this work, the Brubecks drew upon experiences they and their friends and colleagues had touring various parts of the world on behalf of the U.S. State Department. The Brubecks and Armstrong (among many other musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington) were part of a campaign by the State Department to spread American culture and music around the world during the Cold War, especially into countries whose allegiances were not well defined or that were perceived as being at risk of aligning with the Soviet Union. Fittingly, the Real Ambassadors was about the important role that musicians play as unofficial ambassadors for their countries.[2]

Among the events referenced, directly or indirectly, were the 1956 student riots in Greece in which stones were thrown at the U.S. Embassy, which dissipated following performances by Dizzy Gillespie; Louis Armstrong’s 1956 visit to Ghana as the guest of Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah; and Armstrong’s dispute with the Eisenhower Administration and President Eisenhower personally over the handling of the 1957 Central High School Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Recording and performance

The musical’s soundtrack album was recorded in September and December of 1961 in the Columbia Records recording studio on 30th Street in New York City, and was released the following year. It was produced by Teo Macero. Performers included Dave Brubeck and his band (including bassist Gene Wright and drummer Joe Morello, but not including saxophonist Paul Desmond); Louis Armstrong and his band (including trombonist Trummy Young and pianist Billy Kyle); vocalese group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross; and vocalist Carmen McRae. Its most recent release was on compact disc on June 14, 1994 by Sony’s Legacy label.[3]

The musical was performed in a cut down version of ten tunes with Iola Brubeck narrating live at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1962 by Brubeck and his band; Armstrong and his band; Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan; and Carmen McRae. Television cameras, though present, did not capture the performance, and it has not been performed since.[1] Connecticut jazz vocalist Dianne Mower has been making efforts to bring about a Broadway revival of the show. A slide/vocal clip of Louis Armstrong singing the title tune at Monterey can be found here

Social Impact

The Real Ambassadors was able to capture the often complicated, and sometimes contradictory politics of the State Departments tours during the Cold War Era. Addressing African and Asian nation building in addition to the U.S. civil rights struggle, it satirically portrayed the politics of the international politics of the tour.[4] The musical also addressed the prevailing racial issues of the day, but did so within the context of witty satire. Below is an excerpt of Armstrong's opening lines to the piece "They Say I Look Like God".

They say I look like God.
Could God be black? My God!
If both are made in the image of thee,
Could thou perchance a zebra be?

Louis Armstrong, The Real Ambassadors, "They Say I Look Like God".

Despite Brubeck's intention for much of the material to be light and comical, Armstrong saw this performance as an opportunity for him to address many of the racial issues that he had struggled with for his entire career. In a 2009 interview with Brubeck, he remarked on Armstrong's seriousness: "Now, we wanted the audience to chuckle about the ridiculous segregation, but Louis was cryin'... and every time we wanted Louis to loosen up, he'd sing 'I'm really free. Thank God Almighty, I'm really free'."[5] After years of demeaning roles in his public performances, the collaboration in The Real Ambassadors offered Armstrong material that was closer to his own sensibility and outlook.[4]

Releases and catalog numbers

Track listing

  1. “Everybody’s Comin’” (1:45)
  2. “Cultural Exchange” (4:38)
  3. “Good Reviews” (2:05)
  4. “Remember Who You Are” (2:29)
  5. “My One Bad Habit” (2:37)
  6. “Lonesome” (2:24) *
  7. “Summer Song” (3:14)
  8. “King for a Day” (3:40)
  9. “Blow Satchmo” (0:44)
  10. “The Real Ambassadors” (3:08)
  11. “Nomad” (2:51) *
  12. “In the Lurch” (2:28)
  13. “One Moment Worth Years” (4:17)
  14. “You Swing Baby (The Duke)” (2:31) *
  15. “Summer Song” (2:32) *
  16. “They Say I Look Like God” (5:26)
  17. “I Didn’t Know Until You Told Me” (2:58)
  18. “Since Love Had Its Way” (2:31)
  19. “Easy As You Go” (2:32) *
  20. “Swing Bells / Blow Satchmo / Finale” (6:05)

Asterisked selections appeared on the 1994 CD release, but not on the original LP release.

References

  1. ^ a b Von Eschen, Penny M. Satchmo Blows the World, 2004, p.81, 89-90
  2. ^ "Brubeck, Dave". Current Biography Yearbook 54: 100–104. 1993. 
  3. ^ Stern, Chip. Liner notes for The Real Ambassadors, 1994, Columbia/Legacy CK57663.
  4. ^ a b Von Eschen, Penny M.; edited by Robert G. O'Meally, Brent Hayes Edwards, and Farah Jasmine Griffin (2004). Uptown conversation: the new jazz studies. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 190,198. ISBN 0-231-12350-7. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=u3EUvy2P2v8C&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PA189&dq=dave+brubeck+real+ambassadors&ots=cL5jpqZW8W&sig=8xkaiuRM8rPfzjW26_enYTOZw88#v=onepage&q=dave%20brubeck%20real%20ambassadors. 
  5. ^ Patrick, Jarenwattananon (2009-06-12). "Dave Brubeck on The Real Ambassadors". http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2009/06/dave_brubeck_on_the_real_ambas.html. Retrieved 2010-02-16. 
  6. ^ "The Real Ambassadors". 2007-02-08. http://www.brubeck.info/brubeck/discog/cbs-ambassador.html. Retrieved 2010-02-16. 

External links

Dave Brubeck
Discography