Even As A Musical Ambassador For The U.S. Randy Weston Always Played For Africa

'At the height of the Cold War, the United States was also fighting a culture war. To counter Soviet propaganda, the U.S. State Department launched a public relations campaign called the Jazz Ambassadors program, sending Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck and other leading jazz musicians on tours around the world. Randy Weston was one of them. Those world tours cemented Weston's commitment to bridging cultures through music. Whether it's Highlife from West Africa or Sufi music from Morocco, the traditional music of Africa informed Weston's jazz for some 60 years. It's a journey that began in segregated Brooklyn in the 1920s, where his parents taught him that he was an American-born African.' -- All Things Considered