SAN FRANCISCO (Top40 Charts/ Jazz Heritage Center) - The Jazz Heritage Center today announced the unveiling of a groundbreaking new exhibit that chronicles a time when the U.S. government used American jazz musicians as front-line cultural diplomats instead of traditional symphony orchestras and ballet companies. Titled Jam Session: America's Jazz Ambassadors
Embrace the World, the heart of this ambitious project is nearly one hundred photographs culled from various archives and collections from across the country. The exhibit, organized by the Meridian International Center, explores various historic exchange programs operated by the U.S. Department of
State during the fifties, sixties, and seventies. American jazz legends - names synonymous with jazz culture -including
Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman - participated in these tours as cultural ambassadors and are featured in the exhibit.
To kick off the exhibit, the Jazz Heritage Center invites the public to a special celebration on Sunday, May 17, from 3 pm to 5 pm, with a live musical performance by the Dave Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet from the University of Pacific in Stockton, to support the images and various documents.
Jam Session is part of an international tour which has premiered at Washington, D.C.'s Meridian International Center, and most recently, the legendary Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The Jazz Heritage Center is the exhibit's only West Coast showing, and will run from May 17, 2009 to June 25, 2009, daily from Noon to 10 pm. Jam Session is a free exhibit brought to the San Francisco community through the generosity of the Koret Foundation and Friends of the Jazz Heritage Center.
"The Jazz Heritage Center is proud to bring this historic exhibit to California," said Peter Fitzsimmons, executive director of the Jazz Heritage Center. "Jazz has long played a role in cultural exchange and diplomacy, whether through official programs or simply due to its nature as a distinctly American, flexible art form that has both absorbed influences from across the globe, and in turn impacted music internationally."
The New York Times in 1955 - and again in 2008 - referred to our country's jazz diplomats as America's "Super Sonic Weapon." Visitors to Jam Session will have an opportunity to see and learn why. Several VIP and community events are planned throughout the duration of the exhibit including a performance and talk with jazz legend Randy Weston, visits with local schools, and a special event with the World Affairs Council's young professional division, and the Business for Diplomatic Action group.
About the Jazz Heritage Center
The Jazz Heritage Center, located at 1320 Fillmore Street, is the only permanent cultural and educational complex dedicated to the long history of Jazz in San Francisco and the Fillmore District. By showcasing art and historical exhibitions, concerts, films and youth programming, the JHC's mission is to preserve and promote jazz, an American national treasure, while celebrating its presence as an active, living art form in San Francisco and beyond. For more information about Jazz at Heritage Center, JHC events, educational programs, membership, and sponsorship opportunities for the film screening room, visit https://www.jazzheritagecenter.org/, send an email to [email protected], or call (415) 255-7745.
