Povo appears on the "In Concert" live set with Hubbard and Stanley T, but that version sorely misses George Benson. Agreed about the Sky Dive version bring incredible!Exactly the same playlist here
The only addition is Sky Dive. Not at the same level as Red Clay or Straight Life, but ‘Provo’ is an incredible 15 minutes of steaming funk. Do check out.
Great label CTI. One other that I admire is ECM. And there was Pablo from Norman Granz. What an era!
Top tier Arabian jazz led by oud master Rabih Abou-Khalil along with Charlie Mariano, Kenny Wheeler, Steve Swallow & Ramesh Shotham among others.
I’ve heard similar stories with respect to jazz in the USSR. Freedom of thought and expression were not the calling cards of communism, I guess.World Service - Listen Live - BBC Sounds
Listen live to BBC World Service on BBC Soundswww.bbc.co.uk
“Jazz and communist East Germany seem unlikely bedfellows. Yet in 1965 Louis Armstrong became the first American entertainer to play jazz there at the height of the Cold War. East Germans celebrated Armstrong, and his visit became a propaganda victory for East Germany, helping it to boost its reputation in the wake of its oppressive government building the Berlin Wall in 1961. On his brief and only tour through East Germany Armstrong played to packed houses. His popularity surprised the authorities very much considering not one record of him was available before 1965 and one's passion for the music could land you in prison. Kevin Le Gendre peeks through the former Iron Curtain to discover the dangers jazz lovers faced to pave the way for these legendary concerts to happen. He speaks to jazz journalist Karlheinz Drechsel who first risked his career for jazz but then had the privilege to accompany Louis Armstrong on the tour and announce his concerts. He tells Kevin what it was like meeting Louis Armstrong. Armstrong not only had to navigate political sensitivities on the Cold War front between East and West, but also on the home front in the US, when questioned about the Civil Rights Movement, which was at its peak. With contributions from journalists Siegfried Schmidt-Joos and Leslie Colitt, the jazz fan Volker Stiehler, jazz journalist Detlef Ott, authors Ricky Riccardi and Stephan Schulz, pianist Ulrich Gumpert, and Roland Trisch, who worked at East Germany’s Artists Agency, which enabled Louis Armstrong’s tour. Archive material of the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama on 7 March 1965 is courtesy of the Robert H Jackson Center.”
World Service - Listen Live - BBC Sounds
Listen live to BBC World Service on BBC Soundswww.bbc.co.uk
“Jazz and communist East Germany seem unlikely bedfellows. Yet in 1965 Louis Armstrong became the first American entertainer to play jazz there at the height of the Cold War. East Germans celebrated Armstrong, and his visit became a propaganda victory for East Germany, helping it to boost its reputation in the wake of its oppressive government building the Berlin Wall in 1961. On his brief and only tour through East Germany Armstrong played to packed houses. His popularity surprised the authorities very much considering not one record of him was available before 1965 and one's passion for the music could land you in prison. Kevin Le Gendre peeks through the former Iron Curtain to discover the dangers jazz lovers faced to pave the way for these legendary concerts to happen. He speaks to jazz journalist Karlheinz Drechsel who first risked his career for jazz but then had the privilege to accompany Louis Armstrong on the tour and announce his concerts. He tells Kevin what it was like meeting Louis Armstrong. Armstrong not only had to navigate political sensitivities on the Cold War front between East and West, but also on the home front in the US, when questioned about the Civil Rights Movement, which was at its peak. With contributions from journalists Siegfried Schmidt-Joos and Leslie Colitt, the jazz fan Volker Stiehler, jazz journalist Detlef Ott, authors Ricky Riccardi and Stephan Schulz, pianist Ulrich Gumpert, and Roland Trisch, who worked at East Germany’s Artists Agency, which enabled Louis Armstrong’s tour. Archive material of the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama on 7 March 1965 is courtesy of the Robert H Jackson Center.”
World Service - Listen Live - BBC Sounds
Listen live to BBC World Service on BBC Soundswww.bbc.co.uk
“Jazz and communist East Germany seem unlikely bedfellows. Yet in 1965 Louis Armstrong became the first American entertainer to play jazz there at the height of the Cold War. East Germans celebrated Armstrong, and his visit became a propaganda victory for East Germany, helping it to boost its reputation in the wake of its oppressive government building the Berlin Wall in 1961. On his brief and only tour through East Germany Armstrong played to packed houses. His popularity surprised the authorities very much considering not one record of him was available before 1965 and one's passion for the music could land you in prison. Kevin Le Gendre peeks through the former Iron Curtain to discover the dangers jazz lovers faced to pave the way for these legendary concerts to happen. He speaks to jazz journalist Karlheinz Drechsel who first risked his career for jazz but then had the privilege to accompany Louis Armstrong on the tour and announce his concerts. He tells Kevin what it was like meeting Louis Armstrong. Armstrong not only had to navigate political sensitivities on the Cold War front between East and West, but also on the home front in the US, when questioned about the Civil Rights Movement, which was at its peak. With contributions from journalists Siegfried Schmidt-Joos and Leslie Colitt, the jazz fan Volker Stiehler, jazz journalist Detlef Ott, authors Ricky Riccardi and Stephan Schulz, pianist Ulrich Gumpert, and Roland Trisch, who worked at East Germany’s Artists Agency, which enabled Louis Armstrong’s tour. Archive material of the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama on 7 March 1965 is courtesy of the Robert H Jackson Center.”