Seems someone got Armstrong mixed up with W.E.B. Dubois? - I’m interested in this topic, because I once dared a paper on sth related to it, «Africa» - New Canons for African- American Jazz. I quoted two sources then that included somewhat critical comments on Armstrong and Lionel Hampton’s music making in ‘Africa’, Nigeria, though, not Ghana, the former a country of great interest to USA once. I used Bassey Ita, ‘Jazz in Nigeria’, andJohn Collins , ‘African Pop Roots’ , but also, for an idealising angle, the liner notes to the Brubecks’ ‘The Real Ambassadors’ Lp. They take different views of the State Dept’s propaganda tours at the time of the Lumumba assassination. Ita’s book was critical of the musicians as well the audience, acc to him mostly embassy employees, journalists, oil business functionaries…, not ‘ordinary’, that is poor, Nigerians. - Obviously Nigeria was not Nkrumah’s Ghana, but Armstrong must’ve been aware that an African audience that appreciated his stage persona wasn’t exactly what he met.
(Thanks for rewriting this although some readers will not know that "sth" means "something.") Thank you for this interesting info about Nigeria but you may be confusing two things. It was standard on these US State Dept tours to give some performances for small audiences and those were Always for invited employees, journalists, etc. But they also gave big public concerts— the one Louis gave in a stadium in the Congo was estimated to have drawn 100,000 or more people, and believe me there are not that many journalists! THANK YOU
Something. - Thanks for that correction. That would have been very useful to know when I wrote it. I wonder whether the source I quoted knew that. I was too much on my own agenda which went something like this: I needed a contrast to Randy Weston, John Carter and others of that generation, who used ‘Africa’ as a way of announcing a quite different idea of jazz than what Weston called night club music. My book source said that Armstrong and Hampton played what was in their repertoires anyway. So if Armstrong played ‘Mack the Knife’ because it was a current hit in Marc Blitzstein’s version around 1956, then he played it in Africa, too around that time. Of course whether or not Armstrong did or did not want to emigrate may have had nothing to do with the reception of his music.
This story by Brian O'Neill in today's "The Contrarian" Substack, makes the same point about the '90s Oliver Stone film "JFK," which latched onto a false conspiracy theory about President Kennedy's assassination that the government subsequently spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money to disprove. The occasion for O'Neill's story was the release the day before of un-redacted documents that exposed human intelligence assets, intelligence collection methods, and even personal information of many public figures and witnesses.
Yes, Stone's film has no footnotes of course, but the characters reel out a confusing barrage of observations that add up to nothing more than that Oswald knew a variety of strange people. Somehow at the end of the film they conclude that this proves a truly ridiculous conspiracy that is not supported by any of the information previously presented in the film. But apparently millions of people believed it, simply because they wanted to believe it. THANKS JIM
Thanks for your research. As I note in my own review, director Grimonprez plays fast and loose with jazz musicians in general. He certainly flattens out Armstrong’s complex persona.
In some ways, this kind of manipulation is encapsulated by a sequence in which bloodshed in the Congo is intercut with shots of the Coltrane quartet — I believe it’s European footage — playing “My Favorite Things.” At the end of this sequence in the film, for 20 long seconds, we watch Coltrane playing the soprano sax. But the audio has been removed. All we see is a closeup of the kind of intense face the saxophonist made when he concentrated during a performance. It crossed a line for me: I didn’t like the fact that the visual image of Coltrane was being exploited to make a point, and without his permission.
I will read your review shortly, and thanks for the link. I saw a review (I can find it in my "history" if you wish) where a critic said that, except for the Armstrong concert and Maxx and Abbey at the end, the film really does not make a case for the connection between the jazz and the Congo affair, but simply randomly cuts from one to the other. I would agree with that, and your example is a strong one. THANK YOU STEVE!
Saw the Movie lately and was quite impressed even though i like my Political Informations less arty.
I remember the Passage about living in Ghana very well and just thought, that I never heard of it, but I did not consider it as very important Information.
So thanks for doing our all Homework.
I still consider the Movie as interesting, but my Objections against telling History in an arty Way are reinforced!
Yes, as I said, I am certain that much or even Most of the information there is accurate. But my message is clear, as you say—"Don't believe Everything you read--not even in a documentary film." THANK YOU ERIK
I was taught as a history student in university to weigh all sources objectively and not take any statement at face value unless it was clearly true. This is clearly a case where information was taken on face value without any further research. It's certainly true that Satchmo was always warmly received whenever he visited Africa, but the idea that he would forsake his still profitable career in the U.S. to live there is a bit too much.
Dear Professor Porter - Your work is fascinating, educational and driven by the heart & mind.
Please consider future essays on jazz musicians going to Africa. Especially the trips made by Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington, which inspired the "Togo Brava Suite" (which I gave the first performance other than Ellington's*), and Art Blakey's.
*Andrew Homzy
100 Years Of Duke Ellington : European Broadcasting Union Jazz Orchestra : Esko Heikkinen, Charles Ellison, Patrick Lehmann, Peter Asplund (tp) Jacques Bourget, Birger Carlsen (tb) Ferenc Schreck (b-tb) Dave Turner (as) Sasa Nestorovic, Frantisek Kop, Jesper Thilo, Christian Maurer (ts) Andre Villeger (bar) Renato Chicco (p) Boris Kozlov (b) Hans Dekker (d) Andrew Homzy (dir)
Live, Montreal & Quebec City, April 29 & 30, 1999 Justin Time (Can)JTR8476-2 [CD]
I see that album streaming on Spotify etc and will listen. Another of your MANY accomplishments! And yes, there is a lot to say about jazz visits to Africa--the late Jimmy Heath, with whom I was friendly, had a lot to say about his trip to Africa as well. THANK YOU ANDREW
So did Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, about a trip to Africa described in her recent memoir, "Lovely One." It was a family event, including her White husband and members of both of their families. She found it extremely inspirational.
Great work as always Professor! Though I’m the furthest thing from a Reaganite, I’ve always carried his axiom, “Trust, but verify,” with me as a life lesson. I’m always suspicious of “documentary” filmmakers who will work around the facts in order to achieve what has been called emotional truth. The Grimonprez doc has its heart in the right place but suffers from an excess of stylistic razzle-dazzle and, as you and others have outlined, an elastic interpretation of the “facts.”
Thank goodness that you have both the insight and the Courage to speak the truth about these myths that have circulated over the years. Armstrong Ellington BIRD etcetera are the the fathers of us all. Even my own rock band has dealt with this recently. And don't forget guys April 29. Very important day. Peace and enjoy Spring break
"Also, it was Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain who used to joke about ''dull, duller, Dulles'", and not Winston Churchill who got misquoted in this lengthy documentary. I only needed a few clicks to learn it (and I am no journalist or investigator): https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/13/books/dull-duller-dulles.html
Seems someone got Armstrong mixed up with W.E.B. Dubois? - I’m interested in this topic, because I once dared a paper on sth related to it, «Africa» - New Canons for African- American Jazz. I quoted two sources then that included somewhat critical comments on Armstrong and Lionel Hampton’s music making in ‘Africa’, Nigeria, though, not Ghana, the former a country of great interest to USA once. I used Bassey Ita, ‘Jazz in Nigeria’, andJohn Collins , ‘African Pop Roots’ , but also, for an idealising angle, the liner notes to the Brubecks’ ‘The Real Ambassadors’ Lp. They take different views of the State Dept’s propaganda tours at the time of the Lumumba assassination. Ita’s book was critical of the musicians as well the audience, acc to him mostly embassy employees, journalists, oil business functionaries…, not ‘ordinary’, that is poor, Nigerians. - Obviously Nigeria was not Nkrumah’s Ghana, but Armstrong must’ve been aware that an African audience that appreciated his stage persona wasn’t exactly what he met.
(Thanks for rewriting this although some readers will not know that "sth" means "something.") Thank you for this interesting info about Nigeria but you may be confusing two things. It was standard on these US State Dept tours to give some performances for small audiences and those were Always for invited employees, journalists, etc. But they also gave big public concerts— the one Louis gave in a stadium in the Congo was estimated to have drawn 100,000 or more people, and believe me there are not that many journalists! THANK YOU
Something. - Thanks for that correction. That would have been very useful to know when I wrote it. I wonder whether the source I quoted knew that. I was too much on my own agenda which went something like this: I needed a contrast to Randy Weston, John Carter and others of that generation, who used ‘Africa’ as a way of announcing a quite different idea of jazz than what Weston called night club music. My book source said that Armstrong and Hampton played what was in their repertoires anyway. So if Armstrong played ‘Mack the Knife’ because it was a current hit in Marc Blitzstein’s version around 1956, then he played it in Africa, too around that time. Of course whether or not Armstrong did or did not want to emigrate may have had nothing to do with the reception of his music.
Yes, Armstrong just played his usual repertoire, as reported in newspapers etc. I should add that depending on the itinerary, in some countries Armstrong (and other state-sponsored artists) Only performed private concerts and did not do a big public concert like the one Louis did in the Congo. But your source was definitely incorrect, because in Lagos Nigeria he DID give a concert with 15,000 Nigerians attending. Here is one newspaper report: https://jalylah.com/post/25861996305/wardellfranklin-those-nigeria-cats-dont-dig?fbclid=IwY2xjawJOhwxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZN1LbJMxQBZFrFK4tlU9yi3TIpuyHfV0-2b2UiSTJuv_g87jTFdRriclQ_aem_GN48s-hBsfSNao5Ip3GUTg
THANK YOU
This story by Brian O'Neill in today's "The Contrarian" Substack, makes the same point about the '90s Oliver Stone film "JFK," which latched onto a false conspiracy theory about President Kennedy's assassination that the government subsequently spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money to disprove. The occasion for O'Neill's story was the release the day before of un-redacted documents that exposed human intelligence assets, intelligence collection methods, and even personal information of many public figures and witnesses.
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-jfk-files-wasted-money-real-harm?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Yes, Stone's film has no footnotes of course, but the characters reel out a confusing barrage of observations that add up to nothing more than that Oswald knew a variety of strange people. Somehow at the end of the film they conclude that this proves a truly ridiculous conspiracy that is not supported by any of the information previously presented in the film. But apparently millions of people believed it, simply because they wanted to believe it. THANKS JIM
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/oliver-stones-paranoid-propaganda/
Thank you Chuck!
Thank you for the rigor of your research, Lewis!
Thanks Mark! I hope you and yours are well.
Lewis, Thank you. The Armstrong comment struck a similar note with me but I did nothing about it. Thank you for doing your bit.
Thanks for your research. As I note in my own review, director Grimonprez plays fast and loose with jazz musicians in general. He certainly flattens out Armstrong’s complex persona.
In some ways, this kind of manipulation is encapsulated by a sequence in which bloodshed in the Congo is intercut with shots of the Coltrane quartet — I believe it’s European footage — playing “My Favorite Things.” At the end of this sequence in the film, for 20 long seconds, we watch Coltrane playing the soprano sax. But the audio has been removed. All we see is a closeup of the kind of intense face the saxophonist made when he concentrated during a performance. It crossed a line for me: I didn’t like the fact that the visual image of Coltrane was being exploited to make a point, and without his permission.
https://artsfuse.org/299578/film-review-soundtrack-to-a-coup-detat-the-freedom-of-jazz-manipulated-in-the-cold-war/
I will read your review shortly, and thanks for the link. I saw a review (I can find it in my "history" if you wish) where a critic said that, except for the Armstrong concert and Maxx and Abbey at the end, the film really does not make a case for the connection between the jazz and the Congo affair, but simply randomly cuts from one to the other. I would agree with that, and your example is a strong one. THANK YOU STEVE!
Saw the Movie lately and was quite impressed even though i like my Political Informations less arty.
I remember the Passage about living in Ghana very well and just thought, that I never heard of it, but I did not consider it as very important Information.
So thanks for doing our all Homework.
I still consider the Movie as interesting, but my Objections against telling History in an arty Way are reinforced!
Yes, as I said, I am certain that much or even Most of the information there is accurate. But my message is clear, as you say—"Don't believe Everything you read--not even in a documentary film." THANK YOU ERIK
I was taught as a history student in university to weigh all sources objectively and not take any statement at face value unless it was clearly true. This is clearly a case where information was taken on face value without any further research. It's certainly true that Satchmo was always warmly received whenever he visited Africa, but the idea that he would forsake his still profitable career in the U.S. to live there is a bit too much.
Absolutely. THANK YOU DAVID
Dear Professor Porter - Your work is fascinating, educational and driven by the heart & mind.
Please consider future essays on jazz musicians going to Africa. Especially the trips made by Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington, which inspired the "Togo Brava Suite" (which I gave the first performance other than Ellington's*), and Art Blakey's.
*Andrew Homzy
100 Years Of Duke Ellington : European Broadcasting Union Jazz Orchestra : Esko Heikkinen, Charles Ellison, Patrick Lehmann, Peter Asplund (tp) Jacques Bourget, Birger Carlsen (tb) Ferenc Schreck (b-tb) Dave Turner (as) Sasa Nestorovic, Frantisek Kop, Jesper Thilo, Christian Maurer (ts) Andre Villeger (bar) Renato Chicco (p) Boris Kozlov (b) Hans Dekker (d) Andrew Homzy (dir)
Live, Montreal & Quebec City, April 29 & 30, 1999 Justin Time (Can)JTR8476-2 [CD]
I see that album streaming on Spotify etc and will listen. Another of your MANY accomplishments! And yes, there is a lot to say about jazz visits to Africa--the late Jimmy Heath, with whom I was friendly, had a lot to say about his trip to Africa as well. THANK YOU ANDREW
So did Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, about a trip to Africa described in her recent memoir, "Lovely One." It was a family event, including her White husband and members of both of their families. She found it extremely inspirational.
Interesting--THANKS JIM
Great work as always Professor! Though I’m the furthest thing from a Reaganite, I’ve always carried his axiom, “Trust, but verify,” with me as a life lesson. I’m always suspicious of “documentary” filmmakers who will work around the facts in order to achieve what has been called emotional truth. The Grimonprez doc has its heart in the right place but suffers from an excess of stylistic razzle-dazzle and, as you and others have outlined, an elastic interpretation of the “facts.”
THANK YOU CHUCK!
Thank you Lewis !
Hope all is well. THANK YOU DON!
Thank goodness that you have both the insight and the Courage to speak the truth about these myths that have circulated over the years. Armstrong Ellington BIRD etcetera are the the fathers of us all. Even my own rock band has dealt with this recently. And don't forget guys April 29. Very important day. Peace and enjoy Spring break
Thank you Jay!
I watched that movie my public libraries’s app. I had no idea.
Thanks Jacob!
I'm so glad that I found this article! I watched the documentary last night and it was my first research today. Thank you very much for writing this.
THANK YOU LEILA.
Lewis, your writing is always insightful, informative, extensive, and incredibly interesting! BRAVO to you!
Thanks--always good to hear from you! My email is still the same--Lrpjazz@gmail.com
THANK YOU WAYNE
"Also, it was Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain who used to joke about ''dull, duller, Dulles'", and not Winston Churchill who got misquoted in this lengthy documentary. I only needed a few clicks to learn it (and I am no journalist or investigator): https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/13/books/dull-duller-dulles.html
Interesting! Thanks for catching that. THANK YOU BREWSK