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‘Beats Into Bridges’ will celebrate art as diplomacy, from jazz to hip-hop, on Saturday

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Dizzy Gillespie, charming a snake with his trumpet in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1956.

Louis Armstrong, surrounded by laughing children in front of a Cairo hospital in 1961.

Benny Goodman, playing his clarinet in Moscow’s Red Square in 1962.

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These historic photographs of American jazz giants — who toured the world on behalf of the U.S. State Department between 1955 and 1978 — are part of the “Jam Session: America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World” exhibit organized and circulated by the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C.

The photos will be on display here Saturday, for one night only, as part of the San Diego Diplomacy Council’s 2018 Signature Event.

Entitled “Beats Into Bridges: Celebrating Art Diplomacy,” the proudly multicultural event will be held Saturday at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

The photos will be discussed in the keynote address by Adam Clayton Powell III. His late father, civil rights champion and U.S. House of Representatives member Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was instrumental in persuading the State Department to use jazz artists to boost America’s image abroad during the Cold War.

Armstrong, Gillespie, Goodman and Duke Ellington were among the jazz greats who performed under the auspices of the State Department. They often generated significantly more good will than the government they were representing, especially in countries that regarded the U.S. with fear, suspicion or outright hostility.

“Beats Into Bridges” will also feature performances by this year’s two Artist of Honor recipients.

The first is veteran keyboardist Todd “Bayeté” Cochran, whose credits range from Freddie Hubbard to Peter Gabriel. He was also a co-founder of the band Automatic Man and, 2002, did the score for the film documentary “Keep the Faith, Baby,” which chronicled Congressman Powell’s life.

The second is Muslim-American hip-hop choreographer and dancer Amirah Sackett. She is the leader of the award-winning Chicago dance troupe We’re Muslim, Don’t Panic, whose members perform in hijabs and sneakers.

Sackett will be accompanied at Saturday’s event by members of San Diego’s Culture Shock. In 2014, she went to Bangladesh as part of “Next Level”, a hip-hop cultural exchange program co-presented by the U.S. State Department and the University of North Carolina.

On Friday afternoon Sackett will conduct a private hip-hop workshop at North Park’s Academy of Our Lady of Peace, where students will join her and young women from the International Rescue Committee for an afternoon of dancing, games and food.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sackett will lead lead an all-ages hip-hop workshop at Culture Shock Dance Center, 2110 Hancock Street. Admission is $20.

San Diego Diplomacy Council presents “Beats Into Bridges: Celebrating Art Diplomacy”

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Museum of Photographic Arts, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park

Tickets: $100 (members), $125 (non-members), $150 (VIP)

Phone: (619) 291-8105

Online: sandiegodiplomacy.org/event/2018-signature-event/

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga

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