Jazz : A Film By Ken Burns
List Price:
Our Price: $161.99
You Save: $18.00 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $69.00 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURESDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1140 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS Paramount
Movie Reviews of Jazz : A Film By Ken Burns
Movie Review: Politically Correct and Remarkably Narrow
Summary: 1 Stars
If they ever create an American Idol Show for jazz, Ken Burns and Wynton Marsalis should be front and center as judges. This documentary does about as much for jazz as "Idol" does for popular music.... it warps jazz from its free-flowing nature into a biased, personal opinion from Mr. Marsalis, who pontificates with the blessings of Mr. Burns, who in turn admittedly does not know much about jazz. Talk about riding on your name instead of hard work. This 19 hour letdown has time to feature the nostalgic but hokey "Hello Dolly" by Louie Armstrong, and ample time to discuss racism and drug addiction; but it does not have one minute to showcase the likes of George Gershwin, Bill Evans, Pat Metheny, or Chick Corea.
Bill Evans explained that jazz can be defined as composing a minute's music in a minute, a talent that Mozart, for example, exhitited when he improvised. Therefore, Bill points out, Mozart was often playing jazz 300 years ago. Perhaps this refreshing perspective is why Bill Evans, a modest jazz giant, a genius who is comparable to Lou Gehrig in basesball, is mentioned once in this 19 hour saga (and then only because he was a white pianist playing with Miles Davis). Wynton Marsalis, when compared to Bill Evans, is a bench warmer with a .230 batting average.
If Pat Metheny did nothing more than make his landmark "Pat Metheny Group" album in the mid-70's, he would deserve 10 minutes in a 19 hour documentary on jazz. Nope... no mention of him. But there's plenty of time of course to showcase Wynton Marsalis' lesser career.
The contribution of Tin Pan Alley composers (Gershwin, Arlen, Porter) in providing the hundreds of beautiful songs that are the foundation of so much of jazz is barely mentioned. Why are Gershwin songs such as "Fascinating Rhythm" not jazz but "Take the A Train" a jazz classic (I love the Duke too!)? Miles Davis recorded an entire album of music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Miles also was a great fan of Bill Evans but none of that matters since Wynton is not.
Ken Burns wants you to believe, either out of laziness or arrogance, that the bible on jazz was handed from Marsalis to him to take down from the mountain top and give to us peasants. I have news for Ken.... most jazz fans or even people just interested in learning about it actually think for themselves. If you are new to jazz and have bought this product, please check out these other artists I have mentioned. Thanks for letting me communicate my thoughts.
Summary of Jazz : A Film By Ken Burns
JAZZ is a ten-part nearly nineteen-hour documentary series that celebrates America's greatest original art form a music whose improvisational spirit perfectly reflects the nation that gave it birth. It is the first television series ever to tell the story of jazz. Beginning with the birth of jazz at the dawn of the Twentieth Century the film incorporates the wide range of American culture and historical events that interact directly with the music: among them the harsh racial polarization of the 1890s; the artistic and political ferment of the Harlem Renaissance; the exuberance of the Jazz Age; the Great Depression and the New Deal; the Second World War; the emergence of a youth culture in the 1950s and 1960s; the hope anger and expectations of the civil rights movement; and the search for identity and authenticity in the 1970s 1980s and 1990s.DVD Features: Featurette: "Making of Jazz"Additional Scenes: Three full length performances not seen in the filmPlaylist information for over 500 songs Music and Photo creditsSystem Requirements: Running Time 1140 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC:?841887051255 Manufacturer No:?705125Accompanied by a menagerie of products, Ken Burns's expansive 10-episode paean, Jazz, completes his trilogy on American culture, following The Civil War and Baseball. Spanning more than 19 hours, Jazz is, of course, about a lot more than what many have called America's classical music--especially in episodes 1 through 7. It's here that Burns unearths precious visual images of jazz musicians and hangs historical narratives around the music with convincing authority. Time can stand still as images float past to the sound of grainy vintage jazz, and the drama of a phonograph needle being placed on Louis Armstrong's celestial "West End Blues" is nearly sublime.
The film is also potent in arguing that the history of race in the 20th-century U.S. is at jazz's heart. But a few problems arise. First is Burns's reliance on Wynton Marsalis as his chief musical commentator. Marsalis might be charming and musically expert, but he's no historian. For the film to devote three of its episodes to the 1930s, one expects a bit more historical substance. Also, Jazz condenses the period of 1961 to the present into one episode, glossing over some of the music's giant steps. Burns has said repeatedly that he didn't know much about jazz when he began this project. So perhaps Jazz, for all its glory, would better be called Jazz: What I've Learned Since I Started Listening (And I Haven't Gotten Much Past 1961). For those who are already passionate about jazz, the film will stoke debate (and some derision, together with some reluctant praise). But for everyone else, it will amaze and entertain and kindle a flame for some of the greatest music ever dreamed. --Andrew Bartlett
Documentary DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Important and Noteworthy Documentaries
![Wild Man Blues [VHS] Image](/images/Wild-Man-Blues-VHS-0780624378-X.jpg){kind=small}
Wild Man Blues [VHS]New Line Home Video; Release date: 1999-11-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
American Experience - Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House DividedParamount; Release date: 2005-02-15; DVD
Best price: $28.78
Price in other shops:
American Experience - Eleanor RooseveltParamount; Release date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $11.13
Price in other shops:
Super Size MeSony; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $4.45
Price in other shops:
An Inconvenient TruthParamount; Release date: 2006-11-21; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light KidsDVD
Best price: $12.95
Jazz : A Film By Ken BurnsPARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $108.23
Price in other shops:
Mr. Death: The Rise & Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.Release date: 2003-07-22; DVD
Best price: $8.79
Price in other shops:
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamaraSony; Release date: 2004-05-11; DVD
Best price: $7.91
Price in other shops:
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2000-11-14; DVD
Best price: $24.74
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Thelonious Monk - Straight No ChaserWarner Brothers; Release date: 2001-01-30; DVD
Best price: $10.86
Price in other shops:
The History of Rock and RollWarner Brothers; Release date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $21.29
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns - American Lives (Thomas Jefferson / Lewis & Clark / Frank Lloyd Wright / Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B Anthony / Mark Twain / Horatio's Drive / Unforgivable Blackness)Paramount; Release date: 2005-10-25; DVD
Best price: $69.79
Price in other shops:
Jazz: A History of America's Musicby Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
Knopf; Published: 2002-10-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.00
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns Presents: The WestParamount; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $37.37
Price in other shops:
Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - A Musical JourneyRelease date: 2003-10-14; DVD
Best price: $92.95
Price in other shops:
The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn NovickParamount; Release date: 2007-10-02; DVD
Best price: $31.36
Price in other shops:
Baseball - A Film By Ken BurnsTeam Marketing; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $90.85
Price in other shops:
The Civil War - A Film by Ken BurnsParamount; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $34.95
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American MusicRelease date: 2000-11-14; Music CD
Best price: $25.00
Price in other shops: