Jazz (2001– )

A survey of the musical form's history and major talents.

Stars:

Keith David, Charles J. Correll, Freeman F. Gosden

Nominated for 5 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Keith David	...	Narrator (10 episodes, 2001)

Storyline

This series explores the history of the major American musical form. We track its development in African American culture, its rise to prominence with its golden age of popularity spanning from the 1920's to the mid 1940's both in its original form and in Swing through its popular decline and the rise of vital new sub-genres into the present day. Along the way, we learn of the lives and work of major contributors to the form such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Charlie "Bird" Parker and many others who helped form Jazz into the vibrant musical form it is. Moreover, we see how the music reflected the political and social issues of the African American community over the course of the form's history.

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Plot Keywords:

african american | jazz | racism | tv mini series

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Genres:

Documentary | History | Music

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Details

Official Sites:

PBS WNET New York

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 January 2001 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Florentine Films, General Motors Mark of Excellence Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 114 min (10 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)

User Reviews

Awesome in scope but incomplete

It takes guts and talent to put together an idea like this and execute on it. Producer and director Ken Burns pulled off something we all wanted see in a documentary film. If it weren't for him, we may not have seen the likes of it in our life time. This near 20 hour epic takes Jazz from its roots to its modern day incarnations. I've learned quite a bit about history of jazz by watching this mini series, but I think the story told is little bit lop-sided. What Ken Burns failed (or purposely omitted) was the entire history of jazz guitarists. There's absolutely none represented in this series - zilch (!), and don't tell me that guitar wasn't an important part of jazz history. What Ken told was the story of jazz keyboard, and horn virtuosos. Not bad, but I still wanted to see some guitar in this series.

Martin Scorsese filled some gap with his "Blues" mini-series about blues guitarists, but a comprehensive history of jazz guitar history is still missing. Would some talented and daring director please take on the challenge ?