Jazz : A Film By Ken Burns
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DVD Cover Information
Brand: ParamountDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, 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: Good history, but too much Armstrong for me.
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I have seen parts of this series over the years, I watched it front to back recently. I enjoyed the history of jazz beginnings and the photos and film clips throughout were top notch. I listen to a lot of jazz, and have read a fair bit about it, but I can't really authoritatively critique the finer points of where the facts may be wrong, as some other reviewers are able to. My favorite period is the Be-Bop era, and Jazz devotes a good amount of time to that era, as well as the future offshoots. For the most part, I liked the commentary, although over the course of 19 hours, I thought that I saw too much of some people. Which leads to...in my opinion the amount of time devoted to Louis Armstrong was excessive. OK, I am a heretic, whatever, and I realize Louis' genius, place in jazz, his charisma, his talent and longevity. That being said, every episode has a segment devoted to him. I understand the early years, but the last couple episodes actually had me thinking, "not more Louis". In the episodes on the fifties and sixties, while it does spend time on Miles and Coltrane, there are so many others to spend time on. There was too much time on the "Hello Dolly" single. I am not a big fan of fusion, but in the last episode, the film goes from Miles electric period right into, more Armstrong. Then a clip of him singing, to a concert clip of him doing the same song. Then an extended segment on his funeral. Then near the end of the show was a concert clip of "Dinah", which is a repeat of an earlier episode. I guess with the input from the commentators, it isn't a surprise, but it was a times not "Jazz", but "Armstrong and the rest." My apologies, but I thought is was too much. It was good enough, though, that it deserves a four star.
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
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