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Kws
| | Posted on Saturday, January 27, 2001 - 5:26 pm: |     |
Anybody out there been watching the series on NET?
Some of the early footage has really been wondrous and I have to say every evening I have come away with new info and knowledge that I had no idea about.
I'm sure there is some criticism (I've got my own bones to pick) but thank god someone in television gets the opportunity and resources to do the research and put perspective on what is afterall a uniquely American artform.
Any thoughts? |
Ffof
| | Posted on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 2:15 pm: | |
Excellent series! I sat in true couch potato form yesterday for 6 hours watching chapters(?) 6,7 and 8! |
Mck
| | Posted on Monday, January 29, 2001 - 4:13 pm: | |
I've been watching, with great pleasure. The music is of course superb, and the visuals sometimes stunning. I was bowled over by the Billie Holiday/"Autumn in New York" sequence, with the magical old black and white pictures of New York while Lady Day sings the (Vernon Duke?) tune. But Ken Burns needs to do a Part II: so much missing. Anyway: I hope every school in town can buy the tapes, at least, and make them available for showing to students. The show did make me despair, once again, about the state of contemporary popular music. |
Curmudgeon
| | Posted on Monday, January 29, 2001 - 8:03 pm: | |
Presenting Ken Burns' 144-hour Extremely Important documentary, "Jazz."
Fade up on a grainy old photograph of a man in a three-piece suit,
holding a cornet. Or a bicycle horn, it's hard to tell.
Narrator: Skunkbucket LeFunke was born in 1876 and died in 1901. No
one who heard him is alive today. The grandchildren of the people who
heard him are not alive today. The great-grandchildren of the people
who heard him are not alive today. He was never recorded.
Wynton Marsalis: I'll tell you what Skunkbucket LeFunke sounded like.
He had this big rippling sound, and he always phrased off the beat, and
he slurred his notes. And when the Creole bands were still playing
De-bah-de-bah-ta-da-tah, he was already playing
Bo-dap-da-lete-do-do-do-bah! He was just like gumbo, ahead of his time.
Announcer: LeFunke was a cornet player, gambler, card shark, pool
hustler, pimp, male prostitute, Kelly Girl, computer programmer, brain
surgeon and he invented the internet.
Stanley Crouch: When people listened to Skunkbucket LeFunke, they heard
Do-do-dee-bwap-da-dee-dee-de-da-da-doop-doop-dap. And they knew even
then how deeply profound that was.
Announcer: It didn't take LeFunke long to advance the art of jazz past
its humble beginnings in New Orleans whoredom with the addition of a
bold and sassy beat.
Wynton: Let me tell you about the Big Four. Before the Big Four, jazz
drumming sounded like BOOM-chick-BOOM-chick-BOOM-chick. But now they
had the Big Four, which was so powerful some said it felt like a Six. A
few visiting musicians even swore they were in an Eight.
Stanley: It was smooth and responsive, and there was no knocking and
pinging, even on 87 octane.
Wynton: Even on gumbo.
Announcer: When any musician in the world heard Louis Armstrong for the
first time, they gnawed their arm off with envy, then said the angels
probably wanted to sound like Louis. When you consider a bunch of
angels talking in gruff voices and singing "Hello Dolly," you realize
what a stupid aspiration that is.
Gary Giddy: Louis changed jazz because he was the only cat going
Do-da-dep-do-wah-be-be, while everyone else was doing
Do-de-dap-dit-dit-dee.
Stanley: And that was very profound.
Marsalis: Like gumbo.
Stanley: Uh-huh.
Matt Glaser: I always have this fantasy that when Louis performed in
Belgium, Heisenberg was in the audience and he was blown away and that's
where he got the idea for his Uncertainty Principle.
Marsalis: Because the Uncertainty Principle, applied to jazz, means you
never know if a cat is going to go Dap-da-de-do-ba-ta-bah or
Dap-da-de-do-bip-de-beep.
Wynton: Louis was the first one to realize that.
Stanley: And that can be very profound.
Stanley: I thought it was a box of chocolates...
Announcer: The Savoy Ballroom brought people of all races colors and
political persuasions together to get sweaty as Europe moved closer and
closer to the brink of World War II.
Savoy Dancer: We didn't care what color you were at the Savoy. We only
cared if you were wearing deodorant.
Stanley: Wynton always wears deodorant.
Glaser: I'll bet Arthur Murray was on the dance floor and he was
thinking about Louis and that's where he got the idea to open a bunch of
dance schools.
Stanley: And that was very profound.
Giddy: Let's talk about Louis some more. We've wasted three minutes of
this 57-part documentary not talking about Louis.
Wynton: He was an angel, a genius, much better than Cats.
Stanley: He invented the word "Cats."
Wynton: He invented swing, he invented jazz, he invented the telephone,
the automobile and the polio vaccine.
Stanley: And the internet.
Wynton: Very profound.
Announcer: Louis Armstrong turned commercial in the 1930s and didn't
make any more breakthrough contributions to jazz. But it's not PC to
point that out, so we'll be showing him in every segment of this series
to come, even if he's just doing the same things as the last time you
saw him.
Glaser: I'll bet Chuck Yeager was in the audience when Louis was hitting
those high Cs at the Earle Theater in Philadelphia, and that's what made
him decide to break the sound barrier.
Stanley: And from there go to Pluto.
Wynton: I'm going to make some gumbo-
Stanley: BOOM-chick-BOOM-chick-BOOM-chick
Giddy: Do-yap-do-wee-bah-scoot-scoot-dap-dap...That's what all the cats
were saying back then.
Announcer: In 1964, John Coltrane was at his peak, Eric Dolphy was in
Europe, where he would eventually die, the Modern Jazz Quartet was
making breakthrough recordings in the field of Third Stream Music, Miles
Davis was breaking new barriers with his second great quintet, and
Charlie Mingus was extending jazz composition to new levels of
complexity. But we're going to talk about Louis singing "Hello Dolly"
instead.
Stanley: Louis went,
Ba-ba-yaba-do-do-dee-da-bebin-doo-wap-deet-deet-do-da-da.
Wynton: Sweets went,
Scoop-doop-shalaba-yaba-mokey-hokey-bwap-bwap-tee-tee-dee.
Giddy: I go, Da-da-shoobie-doobie-det-det-det-bap-bap-baaaaa...
Announcer: The rest of the history of jazz will be shown in fast forward
and will occupy exactly seven seconds. --There, that was it. Now here
are some scenes from Ken Burns' next documentary, a 97-part epic about
the Empire State Building, titled "The Empire State Building."
"It is tall and majestic. It is America's building. It is the Empire
State Building. Dozens of workers gave their lives in the construction
of this building."
Matt Glaser: I'll bet that they were thinking of Louis as they were
falling to their deaths. I have this fantasy that his high notes
inspired the immenseness of the Empire State Building.
Wynton Marsalis: I'll bet most people who'd fall off the Empire State
Building would go "Aaaaaahhhh!" But these cats went
"Dee-dee-daba-da-da-bop-bop-de-dop-shewap-splat!"
"That's next time on PBS " |
Ffof
| | Posted on Monday, January 29, 2001 - 9:25 pm: | |
Excellent!!!!!!! |
Kws
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 12:10 am: | |
Funny stuff Cur!!
I am sending it off to my jazz buddies. They've got the same beef you do and I also do not disagree. The regulars keep popping up (why didn't Max and Sonny want to talk?) and we have the continuing annointment of Wynton.
Just wait for the last episode, its been shown by HYY in Philly already and it had friends of mine down there just shaking their heads in disbelief.
All in all though...I still think its a good thing.
I for one am going to head out and pick up some Miles and maybe a little Duke with a splash of the Count followed by some Lester with a touch of Sassy! |
Soda
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 8:43 am: | |
Cur: LOL!
My personal fave moment was Buck O'Neil wandering onto the set of "JAZZ" thinking it was the sequel to "BASEBALL", then adeptly changing gears and launching into a tear-jerking soliloquy about the first time he saw Lady Day perform a hook slide. |
Ros
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 9:45 am: | |
Yeah, that email has been making the rounds-it's funny. Many musicians are getting tired of Wynton's pontificating (telling us why musicians are getting hooked on drugs, how Duke was a flirt)that we could do without. However, it's a show not for musicians, but for folks not fully aware of the beauty of the music. I was coming home from a job one night, listening to the show on WBGO, when I pulled over for gas. The attendant was sitting in the small booth, face lit by the glow of the TV-he was watching "Jazz" It was the show with Louis Armstrong's amazing performance of "Dinah" I said something to the attendant about the show-he responded "I'm Russian. Can't speak English much, but I love Jazz. It is so exciting"
That put the series in perspective for me. |
Mck
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 11:20 am: | |
Ah, the hipper-than-thou crowd has been heard from. But you guys missed what I thought was the weirdest aspect: the continual comparisions of Duke to Mozart, and Armstrong to Bach, or was it the other way around. And yes, Wynton can get on the nerves, but not nearly as much as Shelby Foote did. I was familiar with about 3/4s of the material, and I loved it. "Jazz" is for the masses, and there's nothing wrong with that, is there? |
Notehead
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 11:28 am: | |
Cur, you go. That made my day.
I still have to check this show out, but if they don't give some major respect to Wayne Shorter I'll be disappointed. Personally, I consider him to be one of the very top jazz composers and his "Speak No Evil" has got to be one of the most profound and historically significant albums in all of jazz.
Another major fave of mine is Art Blakey's "Album Of The Year". It is so absolutely stellar in terms of the compositions, the arrangements, the playing, the ensemble, and the recording quality is great too. I picked it up about 12 years ago because I saw it had an arrangement of Shorter's "Witch Hunt" which I was preparing for my jazz piano jury at the U. of Miami, and I was absolutely blown away. Unfortunately, it's hard to get ahold of these days.
It'd be great for everyone to contribute lists of all-time faves. Oh, and if anybody would like to start an elitist rant about how "smooth jazz" is jazz in the way that Kraft American Cheese is really cheese, I've got your back. Wait a minute, now I've got it... "smooth jazz" is really cheese, never mind. :-) |
Curmudgeon
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 1:10 pm: | |
Well, pardon moi. I'd never consider myself hipper than anyone; I just found the piece to be really funny dead-on satire.
I'm enjoying the series for the music and some of the information, but I've always found Wynton Marsalis' pronouncements pretty tough to take. He's the self-appointed arbiter of what is and is not jazz. I think if he had his way, he'd be happy to expunge just about everything in jazz that's happened in the last 40 years (excepting himself).
Just look at the series - it covers the first 50 years of jazz in 17 hours, and the last 40 in 2 hours.
Sorry...now I'm probably sounding holier-than-thou, if not hipper. |
Phyllis
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 1:42 pm: | |
Burns is a bit of a twit, but he has stated clearly that his treatment of the subject is a historical one. He doesn't spend much time on the last 40 years at this point, but might 20 years from now.
I'm not a musician, but the several jazz musicians I know also feel not much good has happened since the '60s. I may or may not agree, but I don't think Marsalis would be alone in his opinion. |
Cogitoergo
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 1:23 pm: | |
On the minus side, Burns has squandered a potentially great opportunity to provide some valuable education to the masses (although viewers of PBS hardly count as "the masses") on jazz and has in fact done a weak job of organizing even the material he has chosen to present. On the plus side, it is at least some exposure for jazz. We can be thankful for that and hope it starts a trend of renewed interest in the music. |
Shakespeare
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 2:26 pm: | |
Bwa-da-beep swooo-peep! (That's what I started yesterday; maybe it will be in the next series.) |
Kws
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 4:13 pm: | |
Coqitoerqo,
As long as jazz is played on only one radio station in this market, as long as it remains impossible to dance to and as long as the real experience of seeing great jazz requires a cover charge and a 2 drink minimum for about 75 minutes of music in a smoky club...it will always play second fiddle to rock, rap or whatever the pop music of the day is. |
Cogitoergo
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 5:23 pm: | |
No one expects jazz ever again to be the popular music of our culture like it was in the 30's. But it would be nice if it were possible to find it on more than one (not very powerful) station. There is starting to be some jazz available in places other than smokey clubs - NJPAC for example. Our own little town sponsors some great jazz. I would love to see more. |
Ros
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 2:57 pm: | |
BGO isn't the only radio station for Jazz-check out WKCR 89.9. Just about every night after 6 there is serious jazz programming, covering a large variety of jazz styles,Charlie Parker every AM from 8-9:30, and weekend programs as well.Additionally, the station will devote hours, even days, to great musicians on their birthdays(Louis Armstrong gets a couple of days. also Charlie Parker, Lester Young, John Coltrane to name but a few)And they don't run fund raising drives unless the station is about to close down!
The smoky dive isn't the only place to see jazz. South Orange has a fine series in the Baird Center, and always puts on a couple of great summer programs every year-Vanguard Jazz Orchestra,etc. Here in Maplewood programming is more modest, but we've had some great artists Andy Bey, Fred Hirsch, Bill Charlap(a native).
I'm on ArtsMaplewood board, so this is a promo-Roomful of Blues (swing and blues) will be at The Woman's Club on Feb 17.
The music is out there, just have to look harder |
Chris
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 3:29 pm: | |
Some very fine jazz going on every Thursday night at the Blue Moon Diner in South Orange. Near the train station. JB and His Cast of Characters! |
Ros
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 8:47 am: | |
Yeah, JB is ok, but make sure to check out the trombonist! :<) |
Curmudgeon
| | Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2001 - 8:05 am: | |
Interesting...I've been reading Gary Giddins' "Visions Of Jazz." In the introduction, he seems to point the finger right at Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Crouch and, by extension, at Ken Burns.
Quote:Small wonder that spoilsports emerge who want to establish more exclusive laws of jazz immigration. Unlike Ellington, who reveled in diverstity and abhorred restrictions, the guardians of musical morality are appalled by such latitude ... and mean to cleanse jazz of impurities transmitted through contact with the European classics, American pop, new music, and other mongrel breeds. But this is what Walter Benjamin called "processing of data in the Fascist sense." If jazz ceases to interact with the musical world around it, will inbreeding bring it down? What's to become of a music that once epitomized play and is now flaunted as culture with a capital K?
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Kws
| | Posted on Sunday, February 4, 2001 - 9:14 pm: | |
Hey Ros,
Thanks for the info on the other jazz station. I've been listening and I like the way the hosts organize their shows.
And finally on the JAZZ series...my major complaint is that from the 50s on, many of the participants are still alive and nobody interviewed them!
Where was Max Roach and Sonny Rollins?
Burns spent enough time talking about them, especially Sonny. We had Wynton talking about Sonny playing by himself late at night up on the Williamsburg Bridge,
so why not talk to the man himself?
How about Ornette? I saw him in concert about a year ago and he is still very much alive and well.
How come nobody talked to him?
And Herbie Hancock shows up I think maybe 3 times throughout the entire series?
So we know at least that he agreed to do the interview but those 3 short snippets are all that the producers found useful?
I felt shortchanged in this respect.
Why have second and thirdhand stories about people who are still alive and well?? |
Ros
| | Posted on Monday, February 5, 2001 - 1:25 pm: | |
KWS,you're welcome-KCR also does memorial broadcasts as well. Sadly they are doing a JJ Johnson memorial broadcast all day today, as he passed away yesterday.
Burns also didn't make use of Ray Brown, JJ Johnson, Horace Silver, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, Ron Carter-you could name a lot more. I thought some of the best parts were Jimmy Rowles,Clark Terry and a few others just talking about the musicians they played with. |
Argon_Smythe
| | Posted on Friday, February 9, 2001 - 8:31 am: | |
KWS,
And WHAT is wrong with smoky clubs and two-drink minimums? |
Spw784
| | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2001 - 8:17 pm: | |
Costco has the set of VHS tapes from the Ken Burns JAZZ (about 10-12 tapes) for $89. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2001 - 11:26 am: | |
Ken Burns JAZZ -- the ONLY way to go with this is the 10-DVD set! Great sound, picture, direct addressing by tracks, easy navigtion of the disc.
Cheapest I found: Best Buy on rt 22: $149.
And.. the big production disappointment? Considering how extensive the track indexing and attendant track descriptions *might* be -- there is only one slim pamphlet in the first disc box (I missed it, not knowing to look there) that lists all of the tracks on all 10 discs. Yuck. talk about lack of documentation of what purports to be a documentary.
I'm a techno-babe -- and in the early days of CD-ROM publishing, we called most of these ventures "new media SHOVEL WARE". Same thing here -- the DVD edition doesn't take advantage of any of the navigation potential of this particular medium.
However -- the sound, the picture, and the durability of the DVDs are wonderful. |
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