Extensions of Remarks

January 26, 1993 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 1289 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS A VERY SPECIAL VOICE OF which sometimes afflicts shortwave,'' he ex Then there's "Music With Friends," a AMERICA plains. "So I slowed down the pace and weekly half-hour broadcast in Poland. "It's stretched out the delivery. the kind of records you play for people when "But, not-with-pauses. No-o-o, what I they drop by," he explains. HON. ROBERT H. MICHEL trii-ed to do-o-o was pro-o-lonnng· the vow Finally, he squeezes in special music pro 01<' ILLINOJS ellllls. I thought of it as bel canto sing·ing. ·· gTams aimed at countries his regular shows JN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The world knows this voice, and knows the have missed. Tuesday, January 26, 1993 music it introduces on radio. The voice is What ties all this tog·ether is Conover's Willis Conover's. The music is America's love and appreciation of American jazz. Mr. MICHEL. Mr. Speaker, for 38 years, a jazz. "Jazz is America's classical music," he voice of America has been broadcasting over For 38 years Conover's "Music USA" pro says. "Some say rock is just another form of the airwaves of the Voice of America [VOA], gl'am has swung· out on the Voice of America jazz, as Dixieland, swing, and bop were. My sending a message of freedom and hope to (VOA), the radio arm of the US Information mind tells me this could be true, my heart millions who lack freedom. This voice has Agency that tells "America's story to the tells me it's false." been described as a mellifluous bass, with a world." The estimate of 30 million listeners More than loving jazz, Conover Lelieves in warm tone and crisp diction. It is the voice of daily comes from The New York Times. it. To him jazz and America mean the same Whatever the exact number, there is general thing·: freedom. Willis Conover, one of the most successful for agTeement that "Music USA" has a larg·er "Jazz is a liberat.ing· kind of music. It helps eign policy spokesmen the United States of and more loyal audience than any other con people stand up straight," he says. "Every America has ever been blessed with. tinuing international broadcast. emotion- love, ang·er, joy, sadness- can be The truly amazing thing about Willis Not many people in that audience are communicated with the vitality and spirit Conover's success in telling our Nation's story Americans. Under the law, VOA progTams that characterize our country at its best- to the world-and especially to the world be are not allowed to be broadcast in the United which is of course the same freedom that hind the Iron Curtain during the cold war-is States. people everywhere should enjoy." that he never makes foreign policy pronounce A Latin American diplomat called Conover President Reagan, in a letter cong-ratulat ments, never even refers to politics, and, in the US's best goodwill emissary. Several US ing Conover on his contributions to jazz and journalists said he was America's most influ international broadcasting, quoted from two fact, never propagandizes at all. What he has ential "ambassador" to Communist-bloc Bulgarian emigTes to America: done-and what he continues to do-is to talk countries during the Cold War- a view "We are two lucky escapees from behind about the very best in American music, with shared even by some US diplomats. When Po the Iron Curtain. We have been living for an emphasis on jazz, and then play recordings land's President Lech Walesa invited years with you, your voice, and your music. of the various jazz masters. That's it, just good Conover to a state dinner at Poland's Wash There is absolutely no way that we can de music, intelligent, informed commentary on the ing·ton embassy, the ambassador told him, scribe what enormous importance you have music, and a commitment to excellence. But "In my country, you are a legend." for somebody living there .... You are the what an impact such a formula has had on For several decades, Conover's broadcasts music, you are the light, you are the voice of were the only link to jazz for musicians in America. You are America." foreign audiences. In Willis Conover's own Eastern Europe. In the 1960s and 1970s, when Conover has traveled to some 50 countries, words: listening to VOA was politically dangerous, and his presence has triggered tumultuous My formula is simply to play the best Eastern Europeans secretly recorded his pro scenes. He is still amazed at his first arrival music. I don't sell America, which is not for gTam, often using old X-ray film instead of in Warsaw in 1959. When the plane landed, he sale. Nor do I sell jazz: the music speaks for acetate for discs. saw dig·nitaries, young girls with flowers, re itself. His listeners know that whether he plays porters with cameras and tape recorders, a It is precisely Willis Conover's willingness to early Louis Armstrong or recent Wynton band, and an immense crowd pushing for let the best of America's music speak for itself Marsalis, they will hear the best jazz Amer ward despite police barriers, all obviously which has made him a hero to those denied ica has to offer. waiting for a VIP. Conover thinks his radio style may also Only when Conover stepped through the freedom. They knew when they tuned in Mr. paved the way for VOA's broadcasts in "Spe aircraft door and the crowd broke into a Conover that they were not going to be sub cial English"- simplified English spoken deafening cheer did he realize it was waiting jected to political commentary, but to jazz, slowly. Many listeners say they learned Eng· for him. "I was stunned!" he says. "I have America's indigenous musical art form, a lish by listening to his shows. "If I don't never been so surprised in my life! As we music rooted in ordered freedom, the very speak English so good, Willis," one of them drove into town young people rode alongside symbol of what America should stand for wrote, "it's your fault!" on bicycles and motorscooters and waved at around the world. His credibility to listeners of Conover's on-air comments are brief, never me." VOA has been a tremendous advantage in cute or clever. The emphasis is on jazz and "What's g·oing on?" he asked an official the artists who create it. He wears well. from the American Embassy. "Tonight and making VOA itself trusted around the world. " My formula is simply to play the best tomorrow night, jazz musicians from all over Mr. Speaker, I plan soon to introduce a res music. I don't sell America, which is not for Poland are coming at their own expense to olution putting the House of Representatives sale. Nor do I sell jazz: The music speaks for demonstrate to you what they have learned on record as formally saluting this American itself. I see myself as a kind of messenger. I from listening to your progTams," the offi spokesman, whose work is all but unknown to visualize one listener, an intellig·ent person cial answered. his fellow Americans. At this time I wish to in listening· carefully, not some crowd out in Musicians in the former Soviet Union cred sert in the RECORD an article by David Burns, 'radio land.' " it Conover with inspiring the revival of jazz "30 Million Know His Voice-You Don't," pub Now in his early 70s, Conover is as busy as there. lished in World Monitor magazine, February when he started in radio in 1939. He broad Several years ag·o, the Leningrad Dixieland casts six 45-minute "Music USA" jazz pro band, together with a mob of fans greeted 1993. grams every week, worldwide, in English. him on arrival. One exuberant Russian musi 30 MILLION KNOW Hrs VOICE-YOU DON'T He's heard each nig·ht in several hundred cian greeted him warmly, "Villis! You are (By David Burns) cities in Western and Eastern Europe. He has my father!" His voice is a mellifluous bass. The tone is a tape of every "Music USA" he's done, more Conover quickly puts this praise in per warm, the diction crisp, the delivery slow than 20,000 of them. spective. and careful. Some 30 million people hear the He also does two 30-minute world-wide "It's not me but the musicians heard on voice daily. Millions around the world recog· broadcasts of what he calls "enduring popu my programs who deserve the credit," he nize it instantly. But few Americans would. lar song·s-the singers and i~1strumentalists says. "To me, Louis Armstrong· is the heart "The Voice of America needed a voice that who are concerned with quality, not the lat of jazz, Ellington its soul, and Basie its could cut through the static and fading est fad." happy dancing feet. The soloist who moves e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. 1290 EXTENS.IONS OF REMARKS January 26, 1993 me more than anyone else in Ben Webster, probably heard Conover on a local AM radio that system from 1940 to 1961, Thurgood the tenor saxophone star with Duke for station.

Load more