Experiencing Jazz by Lawn Richard J.;

Author:Lawn, Richard J.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1157733
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

CHAPTER 10

The 1950s and Early 1960s

Cool, Intellectual, and Abstract Jazz

The first time in history that a jazz drummer’s solo was so soft that you had to whisper or be conspicuous.1

—Ralph Gleason

Race riots and picketers in Birmingham, Alabama

JAZZ IN PERSPECTIVE

On the surface, the 1950s appeared to be a period of great prosperity and tranquility in the US. In many ways this was true. Americans had survived the ravages of World War II. Those who returned to a normal life were realizing the American dream—starting families, owning a TV, a car, and a house in suburbia, and perhaps profiting from a college education funded by the GI Bill for those who had served in the armed forces. However, beneath this rosy surface lay the beginnings of a cold war, essentially a battle between democracy (the US) and communism, represented by Russia and the Iron Curtain communist bloc countries. Many actors, writers, and artists were victimized for their freethinking ideas and blacklisted by the radical conservative Senator Joseph McCarthy. The growing cold war fueled anti-communist sentiments, and McCarthy was the most vocal advocate for democracy. He singlehandedly led a crusade to rid the country of all suspected communists or, worse, anyone who spoke of liberal ideas freely. Many artists, actors, and writers were blacklisted because of mere accusations about communist sympathies, and McCarthyism ran unchecked, ruining careers for some time.

Racial tensions, although largely non-violent during the 1950s, continued to escalate, despite some progress being made toward desegregation of schools and public places. The U.S. State Department, however, saw in jazz the perfect counter-offensive to thwart communism and the cold war. Construction on the Berlin Wall began in 1961 and was designed to separate communist East Germany from the Free World. The Bay of Pigs incident between Cuba and the US underscored the growing tensions between communist bloc countries and the Free World. Communism was painted to represent repression, oppression, and rigid structure, whereas jazz was cast as the perfect weapon—the Western embodiment of democracy, freedom of choice, and expression. Tours abroad were sponsored by the State Department, making use of Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie as jazz ambassadors. Willis Conover hosted a regular jazz program targeted at the Iron Curtain countries by the Voice of America radio station, operating on shortwave frequencies. Ironically, African-Americans, who continued their quest for equality in the US more earnestly than ever before, had still not earned the very democratic freedoms they were asked to promote. Despite the 1954 Supreme Court ruling against school segregation, President Eisenhower was reluctant to send federal troops to Arkansas to enforce the high court’s ruling. Louis Armstrong, who rarely made his political views public, openly criticized the president and was so unnerved that he canceled an upcoming State Department goodwill trip to Russia. Armstrong stated publicly that: “The people over there ask me what’s wrong with my country. What am I supposed to say? It’s getting almost so bad a colored man hasn’t got any country.”2 Two years later, Miles Davis, stepping outside Birdland in New York for a smoke, was assaulted and bludgeoned by the police.

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