history of jazz
THIS IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN!!!! THE SENTENCES WITH THE PAGE NUMBERS CAN STAY THE SAME BECAUSE THEY ARE QUOTES. DONT CHANGE THAT. IN THE INTRO UNDERLINE THE THESIS SENTENCE PLEASE!!!
Music once again acted as an instrument signifying a shift in the representation and treatment of blacks in America and other countries. This showed as evidence of what blacks could do in the United States, with the placement of Ellington on a state-sponsored Soviet tour. For years, in the jazz and black cultures, Ellington embodied black accomplishment and showmanship like nobody else. Decolonization, a sequence of events that overturned a regime that had effectively controlled the globe, was given attention by Americans. Ellington’s tour was regarded by many in the government as an excellent opportunity to gain influence in the developing world. The US government adopted the picture beginning in the 1960s to convey the world as an optimistic view of American experience and integrity.
The 1971 visit to the Soviet Union (USSR) by the Duke Ellington group marked their most significant and reported State Department tour. During the attempts of President Richard Nixon to create a truce at the height of the Cold War between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, the Soviet tour took place (Pg. 297). Sending Ellington would hopefully help bring these places to a peaceful agreement. In Communist and branch countries, Ellington found not only recognition but intense excitement that denied the official contempt of the Soviet government or suppression of American jazz. Ellington wanted his appearances and performances to embody the contradictions between what he saw as his home country’s independence and democracy and the different environment in the Soviet Union, though he was gracious as usual to Soviet fans and participated in no political posturing. The difference of view between Ellington and the critics that were stated in the reading was a demonstration of the artistic and racial independence he had fought for and gained in the United States over the past half-century, a liberty that simply did not exist in the Soviet Union (pg. 305). The complex vision of liberty by Ellington and the numerous difficulties he, the band, and officials of the State Department faced during the tour offered a strong contrast to the dominant official Soviet appearance. This is shown on page 308 is states Living conditions in the Soviet Union were generally very rough for Ellington and the band most of the time this could have been because of hotel problems, food, news drama, etc. The tour showed the parameters of what the Soviet government’s totalitarian state could hide from their citizens. Ellington had a powerful influence, the strongest ever made in the Soviet Union by any American artist.
In the 1960s, Ellington created a new significance for jazz that connected a dated traditional art form with government strategies and guidance. Although jazz revamped its image, this transformation occurs as it adopted harmonic progression, otherworldly forms, expanded use of beneficial-negative space that stressed silence as musical expression, and softer melodies. Jazz represented more than just the development of art and racial identity. Also, the tours meant new financial benefits for people and organizations that had previously gained less from jazz. For many of the international fans who first experienced the music of Ellington live, the tours have provided a new significance of jazz.
