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{{Infobox Musical
|name= The Real Ambassadors
|subtitle=
|image= RealAmbassadorsLPCover.jpg
|caption= Original Cast Recording
|music= [[Dave Brubeck|Dave and Iola Brubeck]] <br> [[Louis Armstrong]]
|lyrics= 
|book= 
|basis= 
|productions= 1962 [[Monterey Jazz Festival]]
<!-- Please do not include production-specific (acting, directing, etc.) awards -->
|awards= 
}}
'''''The Real Ambassadors''''' is a [[jazz]] musical developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by [[Dave Brubeck|Dave and Iola Brubeck]], in collaboration with [[Louis Armstrong]] and his band. It addressed the [[Civil Rights Movement]], the music business, America's place in the world during the [[Cold War]], the [[nature of God]], and a number of other themes. It was set in a [[Fictional African countries|fictional African nation]] called Talgalla, and its central character was based on Armstrong and his time as a [[Jazz ambassadors|jazz ambassador]].<ref name="Von Eschen 1">Von Eschen, Penny M. ''Satchmo Blows Up the World'', 2004, pp. 81, 89-90.</ref> It was the first major large scale musical collaboration between Dave and Iola Brubeck and served as a template for their future musical collaborations. Songs from the musical were recorded by Columbia Records and a soundtrack album was released in 1962, just before the show's premiere at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival with an all star cast.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/jazz-education/brubeck-monterey-1961-1966|title=Brubeck at Monterey: 1961-1966|website=60th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival|language=en|access-date=2019-10-16|archive-date=2019-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016011336/https://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/jazz-education/brubeck-monterey-1961-1966|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Background==

In writing this work, the Brubecks drew upon experiences they and their friends and colleagues had touring various parts of the world on behalf of the [[US State Department]]. The Brubecks and Armstrong (among many other musicians such as [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Benny Goodman]], and [[Duke Ellington]]) were part of a campaign by the State Department to spread American culture and music around the world during the Cold War, especially into countries whose allegiances were not well defined or that were perceived as being at risk of aligning with the [[Soviet Union]]. Fittingly, ''The Real Ambassadors'' was about the important role that musicians play as unofficial ambassadors for their countries.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Brubeck, Dave|journal=Current Biography Yearbook|year=1993|author=H. W. Wilson Company|volume=54|pages=100–104}}</ref>

Among the events referenced, directly or indirectly, were the 1956 student riots in [[Greece]] in which stones were thrown at the US Embassy, which dissipated following performances by Dizzy Gillespie; Louis Armstrong's 1956 visit to [[Ghana]] as the guest of Prime Minister [[Kwame Nkrumah]]; and Armstrong's dispute with the [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower Administration]] and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] personally over the handling of the [[Little Rock Nine|1957 Central High School Crisis]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]].

==Recording and performance==
{{Infobox album
| name       = The Real Ambassadors
| type       = soundtrack
| artist     =
| cover      =
| alt        =
| released   = {{Start date|1962}}
| recorded   = September, December 1961
| venue      =
| studio     = [[Columbia 30th Street Studio|Columbia 30th Street]] (New York City)
| genre      = [[Jazz]]
| length     =
| label      = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]
| producer   = [[Teo Macero]]
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
}}

{{Music ratings
| rev1      = ''[[New Record Mirror]]''
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last= Watson |first= Jimmy |date=22 December 1962 |title=Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Carmen McRae: ''The Real Ambassadors'' |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/62/Record-Mirror-1962-12-22-S-OCR.pdf |magazine=[[New Record Mirror]] |issue=93 |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401224631/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/62/Record-Mirror-1962-12-22-S-OCR.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2022 |access-date=5 August 2022}}</ref>
}}
The musical's soundtrack album was recorded in September and December 1961 in the [[Columbia Records]] [[CBS 30th Street Studio|recording studio on 30th Street]] in [[New York City]], and was released the following year. It was produced by [[Teo Macero]]. Performers included Dave Brubeck and his band (including [[bassist]] [[Gene Wright]] and [[drummer]] [[Joe Morello]], but not including [[saxophonist]] [[Paul Desmond]]); Louis Armstrong and his band (including [[trombonist]] [[Trummy Young]], drummer Danny Barcelona, bassist Irving Manning, clarinetist Joe Darensbourg, and pianist [[Billy Kyle]]); [[vocalese]] group [[Lambert, Hendricks & Ross]]; and vocalist [[Carmen McRae]]. Its most recent release was on [[compact disc]] on June 14, 1994, by [[Sony BMG|Sony]]’s [[Legacy Recordings|Legacy]] label.<ref>Stern, Chip. Liner notes for ''The Real Ambassadors'', 1994, Columbia/Legacy CK57663.</ref>

The musical was performed in a cut-down version of 10 tunes, with Iola Brubeck narrating live, at the [[Monterey Jazz Festival]] in 1962 by Brubeck and his band; Armstrong and his band; Lambert, Hendricks & Ross; and Carmen McRae. Television cameras, though present, did not capture the performance.<ref name="Von Eschen 1" /> Forty years later, in 2002, The Real Ambassadors returned to the Monterey Jazz Festival, this time featuring the [[Dave Brubeck Quartet]], [[Lizz Wright]], [[Roy Hargrove]], and [[Christian McBride]].<ref>[http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/exhibitions/brubeck-monterey/part-5 "Dave Brubeck at Monterey: Part 5"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521115902/http://www.montereyjazzfestival.org/exhibitions/brubeck-monterey/part-5 |date=2015-05-21 }}. 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-20.</ref> Archival footage of this performance is available through the Monterey Jazz Festival Collection at Stanford University.<ref>[http://collections.stanford.edu/mjf/search.action?keyword=real+ambassadors Search results for "Real Ambassadors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521022735/http://collections.stanford.edu/mjf/search.action?keyword=real+ambassadors |date=2015-05-21 }}. Retrieved 2015-05-20.</ref> The first revival of the musical was presented at the 2013 Detroit Jazz Festival with Bill Meyer using the same format of a concert performance with narrator as the Brubecks had staged at Monterey. It was next performed in New York City for the first time, in 2014, at [[Jazz at Lincoln Center]], featuring original vocalist who performed at the Monterey premiere, Yolande Bavan, this time in the role of Narrator.<ref>[http://www.jazz.org/lwdcms/doc-view.php?module=media_library&module_id=551&doc_name=doc Program for "Dave and Iola Brubeck's The Real Ambassadors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521033855/http://www.jazz.org/lwdcms/doc-view.php?module=media_library&module_id=551&doc_name=doc |date=2015-05-21 }}. April 11–12, 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-20.</ref> Connecticut jazz vocalist Dianne Mower has been making efforts to bring about a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] revival of the show. A slide/vocal clip of Louis Armstrong singing the title tune at Monterey can be found [http://www.therealambassadors.com/2.htm here]. Songs from the album were performed through The [[Louis Armstrong House]] in 2021, with narration by Alphonso Horne and featuring footage in both the Brubeck and Armstrong homes, which can be viewed on Youtube.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHAX9ZhYKiM Retrieved on January 18th, 2025</ref>

==Social impact==

''The Real Ambassadors'' was able to capture the often complicated, and sometimes contradictory, politics of the State Departments tours during the Cold War Era. Addressing African and Asian [[nation building]] in addition to the US civil rights struggle, it satirically portrayed the international politics of the tour.<ref name="von Eschen 2">{{cite book |last=Von Eschen |first=Penny M. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780231123518 |title=Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-231-12350-7 |editor=[[Robert G. O'Meally]] |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780231123518/page/190 190], 198 |editor2=[[Brent Hayes Edwards]] |editor3=[[Farah Jasmine Griffin]] |url-access=registration}}</ref> The musical also addressed the prevailing racial issues of the day, but did so within the context of witty satire. Below is an excerpt of Armstrong's opening lines to the piece "They Say I Look Like God".
{{Quote box
 |quote  = They say I look like God.<br>Could God be black? My God!<br>If all are made in the image of thee,<br>Could thou perchance a zebra be?

He's watchin' all the Earth.<br>He's watched us from our birth.<br>And if He cared if you black or white,<br>He'd a mixed one color, one just right.
<br>Black or white... One just right...
 |source = Louis Armstrong, ''The Real Ambassadors'', "They Say I Look Like God".
 |width  = 50%
 |align  = center
}}
Despite Iola Brubeck's intention for some of her lyrics to be light and humorous in presentation, believing that some of the messages would be better received if presented in a satirical manner, Armstrong saw this performance as an opportunity for him to address many of the racial issues that he had struggled with for his entire career, and he made a request to sing the song straight. In one 2009 interview with Dave Brubeck, he remarked on Armstrong's seriousness: "Now, we wanted the audience to chuckle about the ridiculous segregation, but Louis was cryin'... and every time we wanted Louis to loosen up, he'd sing 'I'm really free. Thank God Almighty, I'm really free'."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2009/06/dave_brubeck_on_the_real_ambas.html |title=Dave Brubeck on ''The Real Ambassadors'' |access-date=2010-02-16 |last=Patrick |first=Jarenwattananon |date=2009-06-12 |archive-date=2009-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821042904/http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2009/06/dave_brubeck_on_the_real_ambas.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After years of demeaning roles in his public performances, the collaboration in ''The Real Ambassadors'' offered Armstrong material that was closer to his own sensibility and outlook.<ref name="von Eschen 2" />

The studio recording was finished in just one take, and everyone in the studio was "crying their eyes out" by the end of the performance. Armstrong's straight performance of Iola's lyrics, combined with Brubeck's subtle piano [[Comping (jazz)|comping]] and gorgeous background vocals performed by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross created a powerful, emotional musical experience for all involved.

Later, at the live performance of "The Real Ambassadors" with Armstrong at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival, Lambert, Hendricks, and Bavan put sackcloths and hoods over their heads (which they lifted before singing) just before beginning "They Say I Look Like God". The performance was not filmed, and Brubeck still regrets not having had the cash on hand to pay the festival's $750 fee to record the performance, stating that it was a "terrible goof" that the live performance wasn't filmed.

==Releases and catalog numbers==

*Columbia OL 5850 (1962)
*Columbia CBS 57035 (UK)
*Sony/CBS 467140 (1990 "I Love Jazz" CD reissue)
*Sony/CBS Legacy CK 57663 (US CD reissue)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brubeck.info/brubeck/discog/cbs-ambassador.html |title=The Real Ambassadors |access-date=2010-02-16 |date=2007-02-08 |archive-date=2011-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721190045/http://www.brubeck.info/brubeck/discog/cbs-ambassador.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Track listing==

# “Everybody's Comin' ["Everybody's Jumpin' "]” (1:45)
# “Cultural Exchange” (4:38)
# “Good Reviews” (2:05)
# “Remember Who You Are” (2:29)
# “My One Bad Habit” (2:37)
# “Lonesome” (2:24) *
# “Summer Song” (3:14)
# “King for a Day” (3:40)
# “Blow Satchmo” (0:44)
# “The Real Ambassadors” (3:08)
# “Nomad” (2:51) *
# “In The Lurch ["Two Part Contention" theme]” (2:28)
# “One Moment Worth Years” (4:17)
# “You Swing Baby ["The Duke"]” (2:31) *
# “Summer Song” (2:32) *
# “They Say I Look Like God” (5:26)
# “I Didn't Know Until You Told Me” (2:58)
# “Since Love Had Its Way” (2:31)
# “Easy As You Go” (2:32) *
# “Swing Bells / Blow Satchmo / Finale ["Watusi Drums" theme and "Blow Satchmo (reprise)"]” (6:05)

Asterisked selections appeared on the 1994 CD release, but not on the original LP release.
All songs by Dave Brubeck and Iola Brubeck - except "My One Bad Habit" is by Dave Brubeck, Iola Brubeck and [[Ella Fitzgerald]].

==References==
Penny M. Von Eschen. ''Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,  2004). {{ISBN|0674015010}}.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r206112|pure_url=yes}} ''The Real Ambassadors''] at Allmusic.
*Patrick Jarenwattananon, [https://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2009/06/dave_brubeck_on_the_real_ambas.html NPR Interview with Dave Brubeck] on ''The Real Ambassadors''.
*[http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=voneschen.html#The%20Real%20Ambassadors%20album Interview with Penny Von Eschen] on ''The Real Ambassadors''.

{{Dave Brubeck Quartet}}
{{Louis Armstrong}}
{{Carmen McRae}}
{{Jon Hendricks}}
{{Lambert, Hendricks & Ross|state=autocollapse}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Ambassadors, The}}
[[Category:Dave Brubeck albums]]
[[Category:Louis Armstrong albums]]
[[Category:Carmen McRae albums]]
[[Category:Lambert, Hendricks & Ross albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Teo Macero]]
[[Category:1960s concept albums]]
[[Category:1962 musicals]]
[[Category:1962 soundtrack albums]]
[[Category:Theatre soundtracks]]
[[Category:Columbia Records soundtracks]]
[[Category:Vocal jazz soundtracks]]
[[Category:Legacy Recordings soundtracks]]
[[Category:Sony Records albums]]
[[Category:CBS Records soundtracks]]
[[Category:Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio]]
[[Category:Works about the Cold War]]
[[Category:Musicals set in Africa]]
[[Category:Musicals set in fictional countries]]