In 1964, in the middle of the cold war, Dr. Martin Luther King was invited to speak at the '64 Berlin Jazz Festival. Her is an excerpt from his speech:
"...and now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in a particular struggle of the Negro in America, there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy, Everybody longs for faith.
In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all these."
In December of 1986 I made a trip to West Berlin, in W. Germany. Just the name, Berlin, created cloak & dagger images in my head. Too many spy novels and movies. On the morning I left, I arrived at Heathrow Airport, just outside London, and even the Lufthansa Airlines ticket counter staff looked suspicious. Or, at least I thought they did.
I was going to Berlin to visit a friend. He met me at the airport, and showed me the town. Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city, but all the trappings of the cold war were still in place in 1986. Berlin was a divided city, east and west. The Berlin Wall was still standing. West Berlin, itself, was still divided into American, British, and French sectors, just as it was at the end WWII.
After seeing the sightseeing, and dinner, I wanted to hear some live Jazz.
Germans have an unabashed love for American Jazz, even though Hitler's propaganda machine took several measures to prevent
"...and now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in a particular struggle of the Negro in America, there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy, Everybody longs for faith.
In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all these."
In December of 1986 I made a trip to West Berlin, in W. Germany. Just the name, Berlin, created cloak & dagger images in my head. Too many spy novels and movies. On the morning I left, I arrived at Heathrow Airport, just outside London, and even the Lufthansa Airlines ticket counter staff looked suspicious. Or, at least I thought they did.
I was going to Berlin to visit a friend. He met me at the airport, and showed me the town. Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city, but all the trappings of the cold war were still in place in 1986. Berlin was a divided city, east and west. The Berlin Wall was still standing. West Berlin, itself, was still divided into American, British, and French sectors, just as it was at the end WWII.
After seeing the sightseeing, and dinner, I wanted to hear some live Jazz.
Germans have an unabashed love for American Jazz, even though Hitler's propaganda machine took several measures to prevent
