I toured Central Asia with the 5-piece jazz rock band Aberdeen on behalf of the American State Department for three weeks in May. In other words, I was a j a z z diplomat, and it was seriously one of the most amazing and surreal experiences of my life! The band I was playing bass with was Aberdeen.... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy6oGt2M3JjUZ51sRBeqb5g We went to Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, two countries I would never have had the opportunity to go to without a program like American Music Abroad. This program is a direct descendant of similar tour that American jazz bands embarked upon during the 1950's and 1960's to promote American cultural interests around the world at the height of the Cold War. It was an incredible honor to be following in the footsteps of luminaries like Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Dizzie Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. (BTW, the term I used in the beginning of the video, “Jazz Propaganda” should be taken totally tongue-in-cheek as a joke and definitely not literally! We played gigs and conducted educational workshops) Thanks to Mia, our tour manager over at American Music Abroad, the US embassies in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, the people of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, and everybody who made this tour possible. Aberdeen AMA edition was... Brian Plautz - Sax/bandleader Jared Yee - Sax VJ Brown - Guitar C-Bass Chiriboga - Drums Me - BASS American Music Abroad (another shoutout to Mia!) https://amvoices.org/ama/ (⌐■_■) ⦿WHAT'S THE BACKGROUND MUSIC?! (my band!)⦿ https://spoti.fi/2AKAAQ6 ⦿ Adam Neely T-shirts! ⦿ https://teespring.com/stores/adam-neely-merchandise ⦿ SUPPORT ME ON PATREON ⦿ http://www.patreon.com/adamneely ⦿ FOLLOW ME ON THE INTERNETS ⦿ http://www.facebook.com/adamneely http://www.instagram.com/its_adamneely ⦿ Check out some more of my music ⦿ http://sungazermusic.bandcamp.com http://insideoutsidemusic.bandcamp.com http://adamneelymusic.bandcamp.com Peace, Adam