Parting the Iron Curtain

Cold War tensions made the world a much different place in the '50s, '60s and '70s.

Mistrust and fear of a foreign power half a world away tainted everyday life, hanging over people like a dark storm cloud.

While politicians worked behind the scenes to both lessen tensions and get the upper hand on the Soviets, jazz musicians were spreading Americana throughout more than 35 countries in the former Soviet Union, Northern Africa, Europe and Latin America through a cultural ambassadorship program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughn toured the globe, trying to bring understanding through their music.

An exhibit scheduled to open Tuesday at the Kinston Community Council for the Arts showcases through photographs what The New York Times in 1955 called "America's Super Sonic Weapons."

Executive Director Sandy Landis, who contracted "Jam Sessions: America's Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World" 20 months ago from the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., said she thinks the show will speak to the social and the political unrest of the time.

"We're always looking for shows that can really open a dialogue across a lot of subjects and this show certainly meets that kind of parameter," she said. "It speaks to history and music and cultural ambassadors and politics and government. It really shows that art can open doors in many, many different subjects."

Jazz legends - black and white - went over to these foreign hot spots and tried to portray America and Americans as a good country and a good people, while protecting the country's Achilles' heel by promoting racial equality, according to the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy's Web site.

Landis said jazz worked to promote the county because it is 100 percent an American innovation.

"These folks went into all of those kinds of political hot spots and they brought a true concept of Americana," she said. "Jazz is homegrown in America. It's as homegrown as apple pie and ice cream on the Fourth of July.

"... They were really taking the heart of America into these other countries."

And they were "extremely successful" in doing so, according to Landis.

Landis hopes the exhibit, which starts its 2-year tour in Kinston on Tuesday before being sent to the Lincoln Center in New York after it ends Dec. 6, will open up a dialogue between people regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status or age that will help break down barriers.

"We know that the arts can be used in social realms," she said. "It can be used in educational realms. It's definitely an economic driver. This show is really special to the people of this county. There's a very, very rich musical history here and I think that the show - even though it doesn't feature musicians from this county - it features the fact that music plays such a huge role in this county."

Landis said she also believes the exhibit will serve as an economic catalyst as people from across the state - and perhaps even from out of state - come to Kinston.

She said the average visitor count for a show like this is 5,000-6,000 people, but she expects it to be higher because Jam Sessions has a longer run.

"We know by state statistics that the arts traveler spends more money in a community and spends an average of one more night overnight in a community," Landis said.

This could translate into extra dollars for local businesses, which is why Landis has encouraged them to create coupons that could be given out to tourists at the show.

For those closer to home, Landis said the exhibit serves as something of quality for locals to do that doesn't cost a lot of money and doesn't require a long drive to get to. The show itself is free.

"You don't even have to leave the county," she said. "This is a show that's going to the Lincoln Center. (People) certainly don't have to leave North Carolina; we've got it right here in Kinston.

"That should send a huge positive message to folks not only in this county but this region about the level and quality of arts."

Vanessa C. Shortley can be reached at (252) 559-1076 or vshortley@freedomenc.com. Check out Vanessa's blog at http://vshortley@freedomenc.com.