 | |  | | | Jazz - A Film by Ken Burns [VHS] | | | | | SKU:
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Usually ships in 1-2 business days | | Only 1 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | 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. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Actors: | Keith David, Charles J. Correll, Freeman F. Gosden, Edward R. Murrow, Richard Nixon | | Format: | Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC | | Number of Tapes: | 10 | | Studio: | Pbs Home Video | | VHS Tape Release Date: | January 02, 2001 | | Run Time: | 999 minutes | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 170 reviews |
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 Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns Jun 30, 2010
I bought this DVD series for my husband and he really loves it! It gives the best history of Jazz he has ever seen. It is very well put together, interesting, educational, as well as entertaining. This series touched his heart and soul. For Jazz lovers like my husband it's a great addition to any collection. An excellent purchase.
BEYOND EXCELLENT! INDEPTH, EDUCATIONAL & ENTERTAINING! May 30, 2010
After watching all 10 episodes, back to back, over 2 days, I learned more in these 20 hours than in my 40 year career in the music industry - not as an entertainer but in the "business of music" and a bit of a historian and ethnomusicology student. I implore everyone to dismiss the few negative and overly analytical reviews on this film and indulge themselves in a necessary pleasure by watching this documentary. Every important person in the history of American music is featured, in rare film footage and photographs. What a treat!! I've worked in urban music since 1969, with artists like the Delfonics, Isaac Hayes, MC Hammer, Puff Daddy, Tupac, Heavy D., Rufus Thomas, Eminem, Mya, Black Eyed Peas, Notorious B.I.G., Will Smith, Destiny's Child, Eve, etc. I've seen live performances of Barry White, Sarah Vaughan, Sly & The Family Stone, Earth Wind & Fire, James Brown, The Whispers, Snoop Dogg, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Al Green, the Bar-Kays, Parliament-Funkadelic, Sammy Davis Jr., Commodores, Gapp Band, O'Jay's, Temptations, and too many others to list here. Both Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie tried to date me. I DID date Cuba Gooding Sr. (The Main Ingredient) and Bobby Womack. My husband of more than 20 years was the drummer and co-founder of the R&B/funk band Con Funk Shun. I even have a song on Lil Wayne's biggest selling CD. I consult aspiring artists and companies on music business administration and entertainment consultant. I (THOUGHT) I was a true student and devotée of the history of black music. Yet, after seeing this film, I realized that I knew less than 1% of the history of black music, but still more than a lot of people. To say that Ken Burns is a master of filmmaking on historial subjects and events is a waste of words. His films are always well-research and expertly presented. I've seen "The Civil War", "The War", "Thomas Jefferson", "The Brooklyn Bridge", "Huey Long", "The Shakers", and even one on some obscure artist named Thomas Hart Benton. But none of his films thus far has touched me like "Jazz". Ken Burns presents to true story of this unique art - straight with no chaser. He starts with the people who created jazz, like Charles "Buddy" Bolden, "Jelly Roll" Morton and Louis Armstrong. Burns lets the world know that a self-important white boy named Nick LaRocca DID NOT create jazz as he went to his grave claiming (he was only the first jazz musician to be RECORDED), which is probably why know one remembers who he is!!
For me, the single most relevant person in this film is co-commentator, Wynton Marsalis, who brings all of the historical facts together in a cohesive and easily understandable manner. He's not only a genius musically but he had taken the time to learn the history of his craft. It's a treat for him to pick up his trumpet to show us how Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker or Benny Goodman or Ornette Coleman played, why each is different yet still retain the integrity of the genre. He understands the heart of the music and the people who helped to create jazz, the only art form which is truly American. As a great "point-counterpoint", the film also features his older brother, sax great Branford, who keeps it real, with his intelligent streetwise insight while Wynton is all dignity and grace (Wynton is the only person to receive the Pulitzer Prize for music - I DID NOT KNOW THAT UNTIL I SAW THIS FILM!!!). After spending the last 20 years of my career in hip-hop music, I feel as if I've allowed myself to be "dumbed down" by contemporary "music", full of technicians rather than musicians, personalities instead of artists. I know what a good musician is - I was married to a real acoustic drummer, not a drum machine or Pro Tools file. I'd forgotten what made me choose the music business more than 4 decades ago - until I saw "Jazz". Now I feel inadequate and small. But at least I know why now. And I don't feel the least bit bad about my inadequacies - because with legends like jazz creators Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb, Art Blakely, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Sidney Bechet, Billy Holiday, Mary Lou Williams, Count Basie, and the greatest American composer in history, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, I'm standing in mighty tall cotton! I feel blessed to have lived in a time when these artists' music was still important. And I'm so thankful for people like Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joe Luvano, Cassandra Wilson, Joshua Redman, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Dianne Reeves, James Carter, MC Solaar, Geri Allen, Marcus Roberts, Regina Carter, Christian, McBride, Louis Nash, David Murray, Steve Coleman, and the LaGuardia High School Jazz Band, the young new jazz musicians, who believe in themselves enough to show us what real music is all about and brave enough to carry the baton for all of the greats before us who made it possible for African-Americans to give their country a gift which cannot be denied. Kudos to Ken Burns and his colleagues for making this film and telling the story with all of the flaws which are an integral part of genius. This film should be required watching in elementary schools in the inner city so our children can see that their heritage is rich and beautiful, and so much more important than rims and bling - that they can stand on the shoulders of giants and never look down.
 Good Overview of Jazz May 12, 2010
This is a decent overview of Jazz. Not in depth, but has sold foundations. The things about this collection is that it runs over important players like Bill Evans and Charles Mingus very quickly, or not even mentioning them like Wes Montgomery. The collection mainly focuses on Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane and Miles Davis (give or take two).
They are the big boys of Jazz, but not the only ones. Charles Mingus is my favorite, and throughout the 24 hour or so set, he was focused on for only ten minutes or so. With some of the giants I mentioned above, they roughly go over over them, except Armstrong and Ellington whom you get very strong background on. Those two are focused on throughout the entire set. Free jazz wasn't focused on as much, which is a bummer. They do run over Ornette Coleman for a little while, but I wish they went over John Coltrane's free jazz stuff in his late Quartet Years.
I suggest you get it or rent it or something. It is a good background on Jazz, one of which you can pick and choose what you want to focus on afterwards. There's tons of books out there, and there's a book called Jazz which overviews the same material in this set. Check your local libraries to see if they have it; it's something you watch once and move on from, but good non-the-less.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Not about the history of jazz May 11, 2010
Many reviews here already note that this documentary is really the Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch show. Ken Burns essentially gave them the reins to write the content for this documentary since Burns knew (and knows) nothing about jazz.
Rather than repeat those points I concur with, I will simply add that this is a bad documentary that doesn't tell the history of jazz. It tells the history of what was going on in the country while jazz was being created. It more or less sticks to the pre-swing and swing eras, and really doesn't delve into the music. It delves into personalities and trivial anecdotes. Do we really learn what made Ellington a great pianist and a great composer? No. We just hear that "Duke became one of the greatest composers of the 20th century." Why? What exactly made him so great? What are some of his specific compositions that are so great and why? What was new about them? Burns doesn't know. He doesn't say. We hear instead about how the title "Take the A-Train" came about. Not about the music though.
Also annoying is the endless repetition. We keep hearing the same anecdotes about the same musicians over and over and over ("so and so would come into the club and the whole joint would just start jumpin'!!"). We must see the same photographs of Louis Armstrong a dozen times. Burns is not just ignorant about jazz, he's a lazy documentary filmmaker.
In the end, this documentary is entertainment for the masses, not for serious listeners, students, or historians of music. It's for history buffs who want to know about F. Scott Fitzgerald's America and the era of The Great Gatsby. If you want to learn about jazz, you'll be wasting your time. A lot of it.
By "The History of Jazz" by Ted Gioia if you want to learn jazz history.
Absolutely Fantastic!!! May 03, 2010
This series is delightful from beginning to end. I can't get enough of it!!! If you love Jazz, you'll love this series.
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