Consul General Powell Jazzes It Up

Consul General Mark Powell (middle) chatting with Thomas Buhé (left) and Winfried Maier (right)

November 18, 2011. Consul General Mark Powell delivered greeting remarks at Mittelschule Portitz to principal Ms. Rauschenbach and a public vernissage audience gathered in Leipzig for the reopening of the State Department designed poster show about one of American’s jazz greats which was shown earlier at 65^th Mittelschule Leipzig. Teacher Detlef A. Ott and the student project group JAZZ had done a marvellous job setting up the exhibition headlined Louis Armstrong – ein Leben für den JAZZ, complementing it with additional GDR-era jazz memorabilia, including LP covers as well as ticket stub and newspaper article reproductions from Armstrong’s three concerts in Leipzig in 1965 and developing a program for the vernissage. Treats included a talk with Winfried Maier, who knew Armstrong personally in the 1950s and provided perspective on jazz and its subversive nature in former DDR times and a reading by Stephan Schulz from his book Als Louis Armstrong durch den Osten tourte. Performances by the school’s gospel choir and two other groups rounded out the program which also marked Louis Armstrong’s 110^th birthday and 40^th day of death  (1901-1971).

• Coverage by Mittelschule Portitz (in German)
• Program of event (in German)
• Photo gallery part 1 l part 2
• Coverage of earlier exhibition opening on November 27,  2007 at 65^th Mittelschule Leipzig (in German)