FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Renowned jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste teaching musicians from Togo in 1973. Jazz pianist and composer Randy Weston autographing album jackets for students in Gabon in 1967. Duke Ellington waving to audience members from the back of a vintage convertible automobile before a 1972 concert in Sri Lanka. These images are among photographs from the University of Arkansas Libraries’ special collections department that are traveling the world in an exhibition titled “Jam Sessions: America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World.”

Batiste Togo 1973 – Clarinetist Alvin Batiste (left) teaching Togolese musicians, Lome, Togo, 1973.

Ellington Sri Lanka 1972 – Duke Ellington waving to audience members from the back of a vintage convertible automobile before a 1972 concert in Sri Lanka.

Weston Gabon 1967 – Jazz pianist and composer Randy Weston autographing album jackets for students in Gabon, 1967. All pictures courtesy Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Historical Collection, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville

The exhibition, sponsored by the Meridian International House in Washington, D.C., documents the U.S. Department of State’s successful outreach program that sent famous American jazz musicians to dozens of countries around the world. The jazz program is considered to be one of the most successful cultural diplomacy efforts of the 20th century.

During the early years of the cold war, the Soviet Union aggressively exported their culture to the world – literature, folk music, classical music and dance. In response to these Soviet initiatives, the United States developed a cultural diplomacy program intended to build international friendships through jazz, an art form unique to America. The government envisioned jazz helping the world to understand the open-minded and creative sensibilities of our country. The musicians involved in the jazz diplomacy program, which began in 1956, were remarkable ambassadors. They met with high-ranking officials and had spontaneous exchanges with local citizens, including children, musicians and students.

The photographs are part of the University Libraries’ Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Historical Collection, which documents the development of U.S. international education and cultural exchange activities, including the Fulbright Program, between 1938 and 1984. The collection was presented to the University of Arkansas by the United States Information Agency in 1983; it complements the papers of Sen. J. William Fulbright, also held by special collections.

The exhibition includes more than 100 photographs documenting the pioneering international tours of Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman and others during the 1970s, including 31 photographs from the University of Arkansas. Vera Ekechukwu, archivist in the University of Arkansas Libraries’ special collections department, assisted Meridian International House in researching and obtaining the images. Ekechukwu observed, “The jazz diplomacy program was an ingenious way for the government to promote American culture abroad.”

The exhibition catalog calls the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs collection “one of America’s little-known treasures” and further states, “Images from Fayetteville showcase the talent of U.S. government photographers who often had an eye for the right shot, while seeking to capture the essence of the State Department’s outreach efforts. The images contain remarkable depictions of jazz greats whose materials also are preserved in other archives, along with those of various musical legends whose tours are chronicled nearly exclusively in Arkansas. Photographs such as that of Randy Weston autographing albums for students in Gabon, or the picture of John Shirley, a member of the Cozy Cole Jazz Review, entertaining children in a Moroccan hospital, are unique to this collection and offer a vivid impression of the human impact of the jazz program.”

The exhibition opened in Washington in February of 2008 and will tour the U.S. through 2010. The exhibit will also tour various overseas venues. Tom W. Dillard, head of the special collections department, believes this exhibit "will draw attention to the remarkable nexus of records on international education and cultural diplomacy that can be found at the University of Arkansas Libraries."