Stars: Buddy Bolden, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Freddie Keppard, Dizzy Gillespie, Artie Shaw, Fats Waller, Glenn Miller, Sonny Rollins, Louis Armstrong, David Keith

Director: Ken Burns

Summary: The complete series which traces jazz from the early nineteenth century through the fifties and right up to date.

For the third part of his American Trilogy--following THE CIVIL WAR and BASEBALL--Ken Burns takes on jazz, "that most American of art forms." The 10-part, 19-hour film begins with the music's roots in post-Civil War New Orleans and concludes roughly a century later. The story focuses not only on the personalities and events that helped define the music but also on the social and cultural climate in which they emerged, making KEN BURNS' JAZZ a film about more than just music.

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The BBC, sceptical about the British appetite for extended documentary programmes, edited Ken Burns' epic 17-hour history Jazzback to around 12 hours. That's what's presented in this box set of the series, and while the flow of the original is preserved, so are its idiosyncrasies. The film dwells at length on early jazz, particularly on its origins in New Orleans, and there's a good deal of absorbing history here. On the other hand, in suggesting that the important work of jazz was done by 1975, Burns gives us cause to question how much of his earlier research is awry too. There isn't much here to reflect the brimming vitality of post-1960s jazz, and many listeners and musicians have been enraged by Burns' neglect of such pivotal figures as Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker--all players whose work responds vigorously to the question that Burns thinks nobody can answer: "Where are the modern equivalents of Armstrong, Ellington, Parker and Coltrane?"

Armstrong and Ellington are the touchstones of Burns' film, providing the narrative thread around which the stories of other major figures turn, among them Bechet, Basie, Goodman, Parker, Miles Davis and Coltrane. Burns also finds populist mileage in the politicisation of jazz, making dramatic capital out of racial divides that most jazz players, black and white, have ignored. The fact is that almost all jazz players, regardless of race, have felt like outsiders. Despite such distractions, Jazzis the longest jazz documentary yet produced, and it's rich in musical examples and classic, rare and unseen footage. Even when working with simple stills, Burns uses seductive camera work and Keith David's epigrammatic narration to maximum effect. There's plenty to enjoy here, but viewers should be aware, as Joshua Redman points out in Musicians' Viewsin our Ken Burns' Jazzshop, that Burns' film is an often compelling perspective on jazz, not a definitive study. --Mark Gilbert

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	2000
Release Date:	October 8, 2001
Runtime:	750 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	104721
Keywords:	Music, Jazz, Film, Box, Four, Set, Ken, Performing, Discs, Burns, Arts, Popular
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts