Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns

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 ?

This is a compilation that is pretty much essential for those coming to the music for the first time, and will afford a lot of pleasure to those who have been listening for some time too. Some of the film clips are breathtaking: you ask yourself 'where did he find that?' The focus is on the great figures of Armstrong, Ellington, Parker and Billie Holiday, which is appropriate since these people did more than others to shape the course of the music over the last century, but many viewers will be frustrated by the glancing attention and even omission given to some musicians. Why was it not thought necessary to show 'Lockjaw' Davis, Johnny Griffin, Tadd Dameron, Red Garland, Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, Jo Stafford and many more? Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, where are they? It seems as though Winton Marsalis decided who the great ones were, and the worthy ones could be ignored.

I will praise the editors who took this huge mass of material and made something coherent and entertaining out of it. We must forever be in their debt. The way is now clear for some documentarist to make a series on jazz from 1960 to today.

The culture of the "People, all the People" has been Ken Burns' great theme. In the first two thirds of "Jazz" he eloquently presents these grand ideas. From Armstrong and Ellington to Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman we are swept along in a vibrant, multi-layered story of something special that would change the world.

But once the documentary reaches the 50's, the tale takes a radical turn. There is a lot of focus on drugs and broken lives. This may be important but these sad endings lead the film on a downward emotional spiral. (I understand why Spike Lee detests jazz musician's stories focusing on drugs.) But at least the music is good.

When the so called jazz music of the 60's and beyond is revealed, we see that the climax of this film is a betrayal of its beginning. The "People's music" has vanished. We see that "real" jazz is elitist and narrow and for the most part is a musical dead end.

We find that "real" jazz is played on acoustic instruments such as trumpets and saxophones. So, electric jazz guitarists are almost never mentioned as well as any electric keyboard players. And the only correct modern style comes straight from Be Bop. We hardly hear any Latin jazz or Fusion.

The great music promoter John Hammond once said that his most satisfying discovery was George Benson. Of course we never hear about Benson because he was popular and he plays electric guitar. No, instead the film's ending becomes an overblown promotion of Wynton Marsalis who since he acts as the film's "senior creative consultant" brings the great story down to an example of petty ego.

Overall "Jazz" has seven excellent episodes about a vital part of history and its effect on the world's music. Enjoy these and after that I would gently suggest to quit while you're ahead.

I've never been one to send in any type of critique or review to any type of website, but after viewing the Ken Burns "jazz" documentary, I knew this was a call to arms. I've never been so moved before by any film/doc etc.. through the brilliant use of historical footage and expert insight that dances along with the music of the day it's a perfect marriage of sound and vision. I was actually brought to tears of joy several times throughout the series. if anyone is even remotely interested in any type of American history/music of any kind or just a lover of great programming ,this is a must for all. A true American classic! not only did this series reconnect me with such intricate American heritage, but introduced me to a whole new world of exquisite, fascinating music that I immediately fell in love with. For this I am forever grateful to Mr. Burns. the only thing I'm not happy about is the fact that now I've been on a constant quest and spending spree of most of my weekly paycheck on a jazz cd purchasing frenzy!!! Ohh well , it's worth every penny ,keep up the superb work and now its time to venture into the civil war series.

Ken Burns' Jazz documentary, which is a twenty-hour documentary (too long or not long enough would be the argument, I'd go with not long enough), details the history of Jazz from its origins in Ragtime, up until the 1960's. It is indeed insightful for those who do not know the histories of these people, pretty much all of them terrific or outstanding, and it does try to take you inside their world. As one who has only really gotten into Jazz within the past few years, as just a history lesson it keeps attention most of the way through.

The problems one can find in the documentary could be really squared down to two. The first is that Burns, while talented and obviously with a good research team and plethora of pictorial aids, forgets something about Jazz- it's supposed to be fun! There's something about the sense of humor and vitality of jazz that gets lost among the heavy-handed narrations, that make jazz out to be as mighty and colossal as the Greeks or the Romans. Jazz is important to the world of music, but much of what is spoken trumps most of the experiences in the stories (not that a few of them aren't entertaining- most of the stuff involving Armstrong, Bix, Blaisie, and Art Tatum keeps interest that way). The second problem, which is a given considering the length of the documentary, is that there isn't enough room for everyone, and after Miles and Coltrane, it just halts. It would be intriguing if Burns went back and did a 'special edition' treatment, and cover more ground on what he had, and expand into the great jazz that did come out since the 60's (and there has been a few, believe you/me).

If you're wanting to get into the atmosphere, the moods and histories (and of course the music, some of it rare here) on Jazz, basically this is the best place to start. But if you're already an aficionado, or if you don't have the utmost attention span to watch all of the footage, it may comes to let-down.