Willis Conover's International Jazz Diplomacy through Fandom: The Friends of Music USA Newsletter (1964–1969)

Willis Conover's Friends of Music USA (FOMUSA) Newsletter functioned as a record of overseas jazz reception and as a document that cohered a global network of fans. From 1964–1969, the newsletter gave a voice to Conover's jazz fans throughout the world, as it contained their correspondence in the form of excerpted letters. Consequently, the newsletter today comprises a social document of jazz reception by an international audience in the midst of the avant-garde jazz movement of the late 1960s. My research has shown that, while Conover intended his musical selection process in his broadcasts to remain both personally and musically unbiased, the newsletter, distributed to subscribing Friends chapters, contained decidedly partisan sentiments voiced through listener correspondence. The opinions and assertions contained in the newsletter served to shape the attitudes and the reception of jazz by a vast, international audience of fans and musicians overseas. Lastly, I present the FOMUSA Newsletter as a document inspired by Conover's prior experience as a fan and author of science fiction and fantasy literature by placing it in the context of fanzines, an integral component in the phenomenon of fandom.