The Real Ambassadors features Louis Armstrong's first and only recorded collaborations with Dave Brubeck, singer Carmen McRae, and the vocal trio of Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross
The Real Ambassadors project, which delivered a strong political message condemning racism, was an original Broadway play written and composed by Brubeck and his wife Iola.
The Real Ambassadors is a jazz musical developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Dave Brubeck and Lola Brubeck in collaboration withLouis Amstrongand his band. It addressed the Civil Rights Movement, the music business, America's place in the world during theCold War, the nature of God, and other themes.
It was set in a fictional African nation called Talgalla, and its central character was based on Louis Armstrong and his time as a jazz ambassador for the US State Department.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.
TRACK LISTING
Everybody's Comin'
Cultural Exchange
Good Reviews
Remember Who You Are
My One Bad Habit
Summer Song
King For A Day
Blow Satchmo
The Real Ambassador
Lonesome
In The Lurch
One Moment Worth Years
They Say I Look Like God
Since Love Had Its Way
I Didn't Know Until You Told Me
Swing Bells/ Blow Satchmo/ Finale
You Swing Baby [the Duke]
