Jazz - A Film by Ken Burns
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DVD details
Actor: Charles J. Correll, Edward R. Murrow, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Freeman F. Gosden, Richard NixonEditor: Tricia Reidy
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 1140 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Pbs Home Video
DVD Reviews of Jazz - A Film by Ken Burns
DVD Review: Politically Correct and Remarkably Narrow
Summary: 1 Stars
If they ever create an American Idol Show for jazz, Ken Burns and Wynton Marsalis should be front and center as judges. This documentary does about as much for jazz as "Idol" does for popular music.... it warps jazz from its free-flowing nature into a biased, personal opinion from Mr. Marsalis, who pontificates with the blessings of Mr. Burns, who in turn admittedly does not know much about jazz. Talk about riding on your name instead of hard work. This 19 hour letdown has time to feature the nostalgic but hokey "Hello Dolly" by Louie Armstrong, and ample time to discuss racism and drug addiction; but it does not have one minute to showcase the likes of George Gershwin, Bill Evans, Pat Metheny, or Chick Corea.
Bill Evans explained that jazz can be defined as composing a minute's music in a minute, a talent that Mozart, for example, exhitited when he improvised. Therefore, Bill points out, Mozart was often playing jazz 300 years ago. Perhaps this refreshing perspective is why Bill Evans, a modest jazz giant, a genius who is comparable to Lou Gehrig in basesball, is mentioned once in this 19 hour saga (and then only because he was a white pianist playing with Miles Davis). Wynton Marsalis, when compared to Bill Evans, is a bench warmer with a .230 batting average.
If Pat Metheny did nothing more than make his landmark "Pat Metheny Group" album in the mid-70's, he would deserve 10 minutes in a 19 hour documentary on jazz. Nope... no mention of him. But there's plenty of time of course to showcase Wynton Marsalis' lesser career.
The contribution of Tin Pan Alley composers (Gershwin, Arlen, Porter) in providing the hundreds of beautiful songs that are the foundation of so much of jazz is barely mentioned. Why are Gershwin songs such as "Fascinating Rhythm" not jazz but "Take the A Train" a jazz classic (I love the Duke too!)? Miles Davis recorded an entire album of music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Miles also was a great fan of Bill Evans but none of that matters since Wynton is not.
Ken Burns wants you to believe, either out of laziness or arrogance, that the bible on jazz was handed from Marsalis to him to take down from the mountain top and give to us peasants. I have news for Ken.... most jazz fans or even people just interested in learning about it actually think for themselves. If you are new to jazz and have bought this product, please check out these other artists I have mentioned. Thanks for letting me communicate my thoughts.
DVD Review: Highly slanted history of Jazz
Summary: 2 Stars
I've watched this twice now on PBS, and I'll give it two stars for production values and covering Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. It doesn't get any additional stars, as it virtually ignores too many pivotal jazz fiqures from the 50's to the present. Three episodes on swing is too much. Spend your money on cd's, the Jazz Icon series of live performances on DVD, the Jazz 101 book, the movie Round Midnight, or the Legends of Jazz DVD set instead.
It's not that I don't like Ken Burns either, as I bought the Civil War VHS set when it first was available in the early 90's and then the DVD set when it became available. Had Burns done as good of job on Jazz as he did on The Civil War, then I would have given Jazz five stars.
DVD Review: Jazz History
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fun introduction to the history of jazz. This series is not the last word on jazz. It focuses alot on the "life and times" of jazz, but that is what the average viewer will enjoy. Ken Burns knows his audience.
For those people who are real jazz fans, there is plenty of more recorded material to listen to and books to read to further their knowledge and enjoyment. I agree that Wynton Marsalis is conservative in his approach. I would also agree that the series itself largely ignores the avante garde and fusion. I am okay with that. Most avante garde is largely unaccessible to most listeners. That is why it still involves a very small percentage of listeners. Fusion jazz mostly plays to a rock style rhythm which makes it more rock anyway.
Unfortunately for jazz as an art form, most jazz fans really are "historians" in their listening tastes and collection proclivities. This tends to make it more difficult for living jazz musicians that really want to do something new. Popular taste moved from swing and bebop to rock and roll because the development of jazz moved to more difficult music that demands more from its listeners than so many casual listers are willing to give. As jazz became less "danceable" and less "humable", it became less popular and less influential in popular taste. Jazz became less fun for the casual listener.
DVD Review: JAZZ - a historical view
Summary: 4 Stars
The scope of this fascinating documentary is wast; it can be defined as a rich historical look into jazz, with emphasis on earlier periods, with intense socio-cultural, economical and political comments. This said, I can very well understand why some disagree with the deemphasis on avant-garde and the huge emphasis on Louis Armstrong and swing era... (actually, I completely agree with Burns' and Marsalis' deemphasis on fusion).
There are some magnificent images and sounds, performances and testimonies here, all well directed and organized, often capturing the best /or too rarely seen/ performances by Armstrong, Goodman, Basie, Rushing, Davis, Parker and others. Actually, there's too much on swing clarinetist for my tastes - although I like both Goodman and Shaw...
This means that this is almost ideal historical introduction to jazz (although there are some mistakes - for instance, the narration lives the impression that Freddie Green came with Basie from Kansas City are, which is false).
Since I am mostly interested into "classical" and "early modern" jazz, this would draw 5 stars from me but... well... how should one put it? There's too much Marsalis in it!
Don't get me wrong - I'm a big admirer of Wynton's work but, since he was a senior consultant to Ken Burns, he should have restrained himself a bit (and even his brother Branford has a prominent role in some episodes)... In the end of the last episode Wynton is presented as a some sort of succesor to the elder giants of jazz /which is probably not wrong/, without giving enough tribute to Art Blakey and the trumpeters that preceded Wynton in The Jazz Messengers...
It would be prudent to restrain himself a bit, although he is an articulate and persuasive advocate of jazz (as he generally is)... But, since this was produced in 2000 it is a great pity the surviving participants of jazz development were underutilized (Doc Cheatham, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry...) or not interviewed at all (Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Snooky Young, Ron Carter, Ray Brown, Freddie Hubbard...).
Since Artie Shaw, for instance, was so well presented, it creates a disbalance. So, in spite of the great enjoyment this film gave me, I'm trying to be objective - only 4 stars.
DVD Review: Where are the Guitars?
Summary: 2 Stars
I enjoyed the history of the horn based jazz moment thru the '30s. But Burns hires talking heads who do not think that "real" jazz ever used electric instruments or goes beyond horns and piano.
When the guitar of Charlie Christian arrived as a lead instrument in jazz in the late '30s, it needed and had a small electric pickup. Thus it is completely ignored as being relevant in jazz, to Burns and his stooges. All the wonderful guitarists since Christian are also ignored, acoustic and electric.
No wonder Burns thinks jazz is dead.
Description of Jazz - A Film by Ken Burns
The story, sound, and soul of a nation come together in the most American of art forms: Jazz. Ken Burns, who riveted the nation with The Civil War and Baseball, celebrates the music's soaring achievements, from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop, and fusion. Six years in the making, this "soundbreaking" series blends 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music, 2,400 still photographs, and over 2,000 rare and archival film clips. The 10-part musical journey spotlights many of America's most original, creative--and tragic--figures, including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. Special features of the PBS DVD Gold include bonus performances and The Making of Jazz documentary.Accompanied by a menagerie of products, Ken Burns's expansive 10-episode paean, Jazz, completes his trilogy on American culture, following The Civil War and Baseball. Spanning more than 19 hours, Jazz is, of course, about a lot more than what many have called America's classical music--especially in episodes 1 through 7. It's here that Burns unearths precious visual images of jazz musicians and hangs historical narratives around the music with convincing authority. Time can stand still as images float past to the sound of grainy vintage jazz, and the drama of a phonograph needle being placed on Louis Armstrong's celestial "West End Blues" is nearly sublime.
The film is also potent in arguing that the history of race in the 20th-century U.S. is at jazz's heart. But a few problems arise. First is Burns's reliance on Wynton Marsalis as his chief musical commentator. Marsalis might be charming and musically expert, but he's no historian. For the film to devote three of its episodes to the 1930s, one expects a bit more historical substance. Also, Jazz condenses the period of 1961 to the present into one episode, glossing over some of the music's giant steps. Burns has said repeatedly that he didn't know much about jazz when he began this project. So perhaps Jazz, for all its glory, would better be called Jazz: What I've Learned Since I Started Listening (And I Haven't Gotten Much Past 1961). For those who are already passionate about jazz, the film will stoke debate (and some derision, together with some reluctant praise). But for everyone else, it will amaze and entertain and kindle a flame for some of the greatest music ever dreamed. --Andrew Bartlett
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