Women College Musicians Take on the World

In U.S. Cold War jazz diplomacy, a focus on women as student musicians reveals how they were promoting jazz worldwide. Because they were not as famous as other high-profile professional musicians who also toured with the State Department, these women are harder to find in the historical record, but nonetheless important. By examining at a set of U.S. State Department-sponsored collegiate jazz tours during the Cold War, I highlight the variety of women’s participation and influence in three collegiate programs and their tours. Specifically, I address: 1) the University of Michigan’s Symphony Band’s 1961 tour of the Soviet Union, Middle East and Eastern Europe, which featured a jazz band; 2) the University of Illinois Jazz Band’s 1969 tour of the Soviet Union; and 3) North Texas State University One O’Clock Lab Band’s 1967 tour of Mexico and 1976 tour of the Soviet Union. Through these case studies, I argue that collegiate women jazz musicians made a distinct and unacknowledged contribution to U.S. cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. Through their musical abilities and interpersonal interactions, these women expanded the diplomatic reach and success of their tours. Drawing on archival materials from universities, the State Department and Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, I reveal the ways collegiate women jazz musicians contributed to diplomatic efforts.