In the 1950s and 60s the Dave Brubeck Quartet became one of the most popular jazz acts in the world–one of the reasons why the group ended up doing a State Department tour in 1958 at the height of the Cold War that took them to countries such as India, Poland, and Iraq. The music inspired by this and other international forays came out on albums called Jazz Impressions of Eurasia, Jazz Impressions of Japan, and Bravo Brubeck. These tours also made Brubeck a spokesperson for values that for him were heartfelt: a love of jazz and liberty, and a belief that the two were intertwined. “No dictatorship can tolerate jazz,” he said at one performance. “It is the first sign of a return to freedom.” Brubeck, who recently was honored by the U.S. government for his long-running jazz ambassadorship, was a pupil of the classical-music composer Darius Milhaud, who told his young student “to travel the world and keep my ears open.” The pianist did just that, and his subsequent jazz-impressions albums contain some of the most interesting music in his jazz legacy.

Listen to some of the music Brubeck wrote for The Real Ambassadors, a jazz musical inspired in part by his State Department travels, in the previous Night Lights program Jazz Goes to the Cold War.

Watch the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1966 performing “Koto Song,” which originally appeared on Jazz Impressions of Japan:

Air date: May 3, 2008

Read More: Cold War, cool jazz, cultural studies, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond

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