A cool chapter of the Cold War
Like the best history documentaries, “The Jazz Ambassadors” (10 p.m., PBS) challenges our notions about the past. It explores several bygone eras, a time when the world was divided by the Cold War, a time before the civil-rights movement and a period when jazz was still America’s most popular music.
It follows musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck and Benny Goodman as they toured the globe on behalf of the United States. It also examines the conflicted feelings of the musicians as segregation remained the law of the land.
Musician and arranger Quincy Jones was only 22 in 1955, when he toured with Gillespie’s band throughout the Arab world and the Mediterranean. He recalls rapturous greetings in every country, often among the very student radicals who had previously been throwing rocks at U.S. embassies. Their warm welcome abroad ended in a chilly reception when members of Congress questioned the band’s expense account and attacked modern jazz as mere noise.
Efforts to get Louis Armstrong to tour were scuttled in 1957 after white rioters in Little Rock, Arkansas, prevented black children from attending school. The normally affable Armstrong declared he could not abide racism and would not lie about his feelings for propaganda purposes.
Ultimately, more than 20 jazz tours visited 100 countries, even the Soviet Union itself.
“Jazz Ambassadors” is a thoughtful look at how the “soft power” of culture and the arts can prove as influential as military hardware.
It’s worth noting that when Czechoslovakia’s harsh Communist regime was finally toppled in 1989, the revolt was dubbed “the Velvet Revolution” after experimental rock band the Velvet Underground. The country’s first post-Communist leader was avant-garde playwright Vaclav Havel. And among the Western heroes championed by his government were not Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher but Frank Zappa and Lou Reed.
If you can’t catch tonight’s broadcast, “The Jazz Ambassadors” will stream, beginning Saturday, at www.pbs.org/show/ jazz-ambassadors and on PBS apps.
COMIC BENTS
Comic legends return in two very different projects. The new series “A Little Help With Carol Burnett” streams on Netflix beginning today. She’ll be joined by celebrity guests as well as a panel of young people, ages 5-9, who offer advice and tech-savvy insights for the “old people” in their midst, including Julie Bowen, Candace Cameron Bure, Mark Cuban, Billy Eichner, Taraji P. Henson, Derek Hough, DJ Khaled, Lisa Kudrow, Brittany Snow, Wanda Sykes and Finn Wolfhard.
Created by Norman Lear, the four-part series “America Divided” (9 p.m., Epix) enters its second season discussing hot-button topics including Confederate monuments, coal mining and conservation. First up, a look at Washington, D.C.’s culture of sexual harassment, presented by Gretchen Carlson, who co-produced the segment.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Is there a person alive who doesn’t already know the trick ending to the 1999 shocker “The Sixth Sense” (7 and 9:30 p.m., Viceland)?
› Mac just can’t quit on the season finale of “MacGyver” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
› A new threat (Adam Driver) emerges in the 2015 thriller “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (8 p.m., TBS).
› The planet’s fate hangs in the balance on “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
› Bebe Neuwirth gueststars on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
› Blake challenges Fallon on “Dynasty” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› Shocking revelations about Avery’s father on “Blindspot” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› Past chefs return on “MasterChef Junior” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
› Henry’s wake-up call on “Once Upon a Time” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
› A two-hour “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC).
Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin. tvguy@gmail.com.