Duke Ellington visited India in 1963 as part of the US State Department’s programme during the Cold War to attempt to use jazz to win hearts and minds in the Third World.
Groups led by pianist Dave Brubeck, trombonist Jack Teagarden and trumpet player “Red” Nichols also toured India as part of that initiative.
Six decades later, the State Department has posted a video of Ellington’s concert in Bombay. Note his name written on the stage backdrop fashioned out of marigold flowers.
