The Jazz Ambassadors

Live Performance by Bryan Carter followed by Reception

2018. 90 m. Hugo Berkeley. Thirteen Productions/Antelope South. US/UK. English. Rated NR.

Series

The Cold War and civil rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy, and race. Beginning in 1955, when the United States asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and their racially diverse band members faced a painful dilemma: How could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation? The documentary reveals how the US State Department unwittingly gave the burgeoning civil rights movement a major voice on the world stage just when it needed one most. Drawing on an incredible performance archive and detailed personal accounts of the tours, as well as cinematic reconstructions of crucial sequences, the film immerses viewers in this fascinating journey, accompanied by a truly swinging soundtrack.

RECEPTION Don’t miss the dessert and wine reception upstairs in the Jane Peck Gallery!

Tickets: $20 (members), $25 (nonmembers)

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Live Performance by Bryan Carter

Wednesday, Jun. 19 2019, 7:15

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Still at the very outset of his career, drummer Bryan Carter has already played and/or recorded with many notable artists including Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Michael Feinstein, and Kurt Elling. Carter attended The Juilliard School as a Jazz Studies major and studied with Carl Allen and Kenny Washington. He was the recipient of the Irene Diamond Scholarship as well as the Samuel L Jackson Scholarship. Bryan is currently touring the world with his band, Bryan Carter & The Young Swangers. He was the house drummer for NBC’S “Maya & Marty” starring Maya Rudolph, Keenan Thompson and Martin Short. Carter conducts clinics, master-classes and workshops at schools, colleges and universities around the world. He serves as a teaching artist for the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz for Young People program in New York City.

This film is part of the Jazz Sessions: Beyond the Notes series.