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123
Album Review

Ken Burns: The Best Of Ken Burns Jazz

Read "The Best Of Ken Burns Jazz" reviewed by Jim Santella


A subset of the five-CD package, Ken Burns’ single-CD volume wraps it all up in 75 minutes. This 20-song compilation serves to introduce jazz, from early vocal and trumpet work by Louis Armstrong to the Lincoln Center’s recent Ellington tributes. Every selection is a teaching point that serves to introduce significant milestones along the way. Sure, there are holes. It takes a lifetime to cover it all, and we’re happy to keep on trying on our own. Nevertheless, Ken Burns ...

125
Album Review

Ken Burns: Ken Burns Jazz: The Story Of America

Read "Ken Burns Jazz: The Story Of America" reviewed by Jim Santella


Controversial? Come on. How can this be controversial? Y2K was controversial. The November 7th U.S. Presidential election was controversial. But Ken Burns doing a service for the millions of PBS television viewers who know jazz only as a four-letter word? How can that be controversial?

A five-CD boxed set, The Story Of America’s Music is arranged in chronological order to depict the history of jazz in general terms. There are holes. Fats Waller is missing. So are Jon Hendricks, Stan ...

419
Album Review

Ken Burns: The Best Of Ken Burns JAZZ

Read "The Best Of Ken Burns JAZZ" reviewed by Jim Santella


A subset of the five-CD package, Ken Burns' single-CD volume wraps it all up in 75 minutes. This 20-song compilation serves to introduce jazz, from early vocal and trumpet work by Louis Armstrong to the Lincoln Center's recent Ellington tributes. Every selection is a teaching point that serves to introduce significant milestones along the way. Sure, there are holes. It takes a lifetime to cover it all, and we're happy to keep on trying on our own. Nevertheless, Ken Burns ...

447
Album Review

Ken Burns: Ken Burns Jazz: The Story Of America's Music

Read "Ken Burns Jazz: The Story Of America's Music" reviewed by Jim Santella


Controversial? Come on. How can this be controversial? Y2K was controversial. The November 7th U.S. Presidential election was controversial. But Ken Burns doing a service for the millions of PBS television viewers who know jazz only as a four-letter word? How can that be controversial?

A five-CD boxed set, The Story Of America's Music is arranged in chronological order to depict the history of jazz in general terms. There are holes. Fats Waller is missing. So are Jon Hendricks, Stan ...

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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ken Burns' Jazz

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ken Burns' Jazz

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week, celebrate the nation's birthday with a screening of Jazz, the ten-part history of the music directed by famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and originally aired on PBS back in 2001. Although the series was acclaimed by some as the most comprehensive filmed treatment of jazz history to date, many fans and critics also found plenty to criticize. Many of the negative comments focused on the series' heavy emphasis on older styles, the short shrift given to developments after ...

2

TV / Film

How Ken Burns Murdered Jazz

How Ken Burns Murdered Jazz

Source: Michael Ricci

Ken Burn’s interminable documentary Jazz starts with a wrong premise and degenerates from there. Burns heralds jazz as the great American contribution to world music and sets it up as a kind of roadmap to racial relations across the 20th century. But surely that distinction belongs to the blues, the music born on the plantations of the Mississippi delta. Indeed, though Burns underplays this, jazz sprang from the blues. But so did R&B, rock-and-roll, funk and hip hop. But Burns ...

75

Video / DVD

Reconsidering Ken Burns "Jazz"

Reconsidering Ken Burns "Jazz"

Source: The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins

In a classic example of how time can inevitably alter one's prior impressions, last month I was down in New Orleans working on a piece that will arrive in JazzTimes magazine's forthcoming annual jazz education issue, on the annual Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp. On a couple of occasions during that week I noticed the students viewing an episode of Ken Burns' controversial “Jazz" documentary series. Spurred by that viewing I knew I needed to see the series again, at my ...

139

Event

Filmmaker Ken Burns And Tauck To Host Exclusive Jazz Event In New Orleans

Source: Tom Armstrong

NORWALK, CT—Private performances by musicians including Ellis Marsalis... VIP treatment and a private concert at Preservation Hall... Exclusive talks from Ken Burns and the music historian at the Louisiana State Museum... An insider's tour of the Hogan Jazz Archive hosted by its curator... Gourmet meals at some of New Orleans' most renowned restaurants, including Arnaud's and The Court of Two Sisters... All of these experiences and more will be featured during a new five-day event in New Orleans exploring the ...

123

TV / Film

Treme Recap: Just One Episode and Already More Jazz Than That Whole Ken Burns Documentary!

Treme  Recap: Just One Episode and Already More Jazz Than That Whole Ken Burns Documentary!

Source: Michael Ricci

You hear Treme, David Simon's new television series, before you see it. Over black, with title cards that read “New Orleans, Three Months Later," a trumpet sounds the staccato clarion call that traditionally convenes the brass bands and second-liners and announces the beginning of the street parade--Puh-PAH puh-PAH.  With those four notes, Simon makes two things clear: 1) this is going to be a show about music, and 2) he's done his research.

Instead of portraying a city, as they ...

267

TV / Film

Ken Burns: What About Mingus?!

Ken Burns: What About Mingus?!

Source: Michael Ricci

Ken Burns: Was a backlash inevitable? His familiar style of documentary filmmaking has bred some contempt on the part of his critics, who can't wait for his new opus, 'The National Parks.'

The documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has a story he clearly loves to tell. He was walking in New York City a few years ago -- on a date -- when he heard a man he'd just passed yell violently back at him: “What about Mingus?!" Preceding the name ...

91

Music Industry

KEN BURNS JAZZ GOES PLATINUM

KEN BURNS JAZZ GOES PLATINUM

Source: All About Jazz

5-CD set earns RIAA certification of 1 million units shipped, marking first time a jazz boxed set achieves this feat

Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings and The Verve Music Group are proud to announce the Platinum RIAA certification of Ken Burns JAZZ, the 5-CD boxed set companion to the documentary of the same name. This is the first time in history that a jazz boxed set has reached the feat of over one million shipped units, as the 5-CD boxed set has ...

81

Music Industry

Jazz Matters: "After Ken Burns' Jazz," at the New School

Jazz Matters: "After Ken Burns' Jazz," at the New School

Source: All About Jazz

The JJA invites all interested members of the jazz community -- journalists,musicians, music entrepreneurs, scholars, aficionados and new listeners -- to “Jazz Matters," a series of discussions with authors reporters, interviewers and music producers on topics of practical, professional interest co-sponsored by the New School Jazz and Contemporary Music program at its performance space, 55 W. 13th St., 5th floor (between 5th and 6th Aves, NYC).

Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association, assoc prof New York University, author ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ken Burns Jazz: The...

Verve Music Group
2000

buy

The Best Of Ken Burns...

Verve Music Group
2000

buy

Ken Burns Jazz: The...

Verve Music Group
2000

buy

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