Concert ReviewsEvents

Jazz: America’s Secret Sonic Weapon. Concert May 12 at Evergreen Museum

At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government recruited jazz icons such as Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington to tour the world as cultural ambassadors and burnish America’s reputation as a beacon of multi-cultural freedom and creativity. While this projection often obscured a far more complicated reality, the tours proved incredibly effective, inspiring one reporter to dub them “America’s secret sonic weapon.” At Evergreen Museum—once the home of Ambassador John Work Garrett and his arts patron wife, Alice Warder Garrett—diplomacy and jazz have long co-existed. They will once again harmonize at this outdoor concert and talk co-sponsored by the Baltimore Jazz Alliance and featuring music by Peabody jazz sextet Kenyatta and narration by Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars professor Anna Harwell Celenza. Staged on Evergreen’s newly renovated historic terrace, this program will illustrate the power of jazz to seduce the world even as it remained a source of cultural dissonance for some Americans. Light refreshments will be served. Location: 4545 N. Charles Street, Baltimore 21210. $20 general public/$15 JHU Museums members/$15 JHU faculty, staff, & alumni/$10 full-time students (with valid ID). Tickets: evergreenmuseum.eventbrite.com

4 thoughts on “Jazz: America’s Secret Sonic Weapon. Concert May 12 at Evergreen Museum

  • Ethel Robinson

    I love jazz and I am glad it’s coming back to Baltimore.

    Reply
  • Rosie

    Hi. Can you please provide me with a link to the group that is performing at Evergreen? I would like to listen to them before I purchase tickets. Thank you.

    Reply
    • admin

      Hi Rosie, note that this was 2022, so long passed. The group Kenyatta is affiliated with Peabody, but unfortunately we don’t have any link for them directly.

      Reply
  • Carol Newill

    When and where can we hear the Kenyatta sextet again?
    We attended their performance at Evergreen on May 12 and loved it!

    Reply

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