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Movie poster

The Jazz Ambassadors

20187.0 / 1060 min
Documentary

Overview

The untold story of America's coolest weapon in the Cold War

The Cold War and Civil Rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. Beginning in 1955, when America asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and their mixed-race band members, faced a painful dilemma: how could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation?

Cast

Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr.

Narrator

Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Self

Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

Self (archive footage)

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Self (archive footage)

Darius Brubeck

Darius Brubeck

Self

Bill Crow

Bill Crow

Self

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Self (archive footage)

Charlie Persip

Charlie Persip

Self

Crew

Hugo Berkeley

Hugo Berkeley

Director

Michael J. McEvoy

Michael J. McEvoy

Music

Nse Asuquo

Nse Asuquo

Editor

Mick Csáky

Mick Csáky

Producer

Andre Lascaris

Andre Lascaris

Director of Photography

Dewald Aukema

Dewald Aukema

Director of Photography