Ken Burns' JAZZ starts Monday on PBS!

Ellington IS one of the greatest composers that ever lived. If you do your history, and actually do some study you'll come to that realization too! This documentary will be a starting point for many. It merely scratches the surface, but ANYTHING that promotes the music is a good thing. If truth be told, jazz IS the only TRUE original art form, and has never gotten its due. Rock and roll came from jazz, but how many rockers actually know that, or care to actually educate themselves enough to find out? This documentary will be seen by many a young student, and however incorrect or condensed the information, will no doubt result in encouraging children to study music. That's a good thing, as the end result will be a continuance of the great legacy left before them!

In episode 9, the documentary suggests young people were swayed away from jazz in the early 60's by the popularity of the Beetles and rock and roll. An obvious sign of those times, but where are the Beetles now? Nothing against their contribution to rock and roll, but I've yet to observe a single person requesting transcriptions of any of their material. Jazz Lives...The fact is, jazz is the greatest music there is, but it doesn't get its due in America...not then, or now. Japanese and Europeans have greater respect and knowledge of this art form than the average American. Why does it take 40 years after the popularity of an art form to create a documentary about it? Heck, if Mozart or Beethoven were alive when jazz had evolved, they'd have played it too!

Uhhh Ohhh'...I better go now...some of these comments are getting my dander up. Go ahead, rip the documentary to shreds if you will, but if you really want to know about jazz, or music, it'll require more than a documentary to truly educate yourself. Enjoy!

TG - Thanks.

You can OSTERICHSIZE your head into the sand as much as you want to, but the facts are facts.

In condensed form they are:
Slavery produced slaves, these slaves produced the BLUES, the BLUES evolved into JAZZ. Rock and roll came from JAZZ.

No Jazz, no RHYTHM n' BLUES, no RHYTHM n' BLUES, no Presley, no Presley, rock n' roll takes another 5 or so years longer to get off of the ground. By now, some of you are scratching your heads and saying, "What, rock n' roll came from JAZZ? LOL...Sorry Charlie, it's true!

I hasten to ad, that if the predominant number of GREAT jazz players were WHITE players, the popularity of JAZZ would have been much greater then and now, and certainly receive a greater respect in the country of the people that created it. America has never given due credit to the contributions of Black Americans! Why should JAZZ be any different!?

Is it coincidence, prejudice, or acceptance that provided greater acceptance in Europe for JAZZ players at a time when popularity suffered here in America? It wasn't the economy that forced players overseas, it was prejudice.

Man, you can't tell me you don't want to be reminded of racial predjudice while watching this documentary because it makes you feel uncomfortable to be reminded about history. It's a documentary about the history of JAZZ! You can't create a documentary about JAZZ without talking about the foundation of JAZZ, and totally dismiss the prejudice and bigotry that existed at the time of the evolution of the music! It's not about feeling comfortable, it's about the TRUTH, and the TRUTH can be an very uncomfortable and painful thing sometimes! Enjoy!

I've encountered at least 2 erroneous comments regarding this series.

First, Brubeck IS represented in the series. Episode 9 in fact. Brubeck IS interviewed and provides comments about how TAKE FIVE evolved, etc.

Second, the series DOES NOT conclude with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Wynton's involvement in this series is irrelevent to me, but a lot of people have a serious issues with him. Their problem, not his obviously.

It might be wise to watch the series, and beware of false information being spread about it. Okay, gotta go watch episode 8...yes, 8...I bought the entire DVD set. Great transfer btw, in case it interests you.

Enjoy!

I'm a little late to the party here and in "you got to show me" thread but would agree with many of the "live and let live" posts. I think, however, Coltrane, that you're engaging in some serious historic revisionism when you state above that rock was born out of jazz. It's pretty clear that both rock and jazz were originally spawned by blues (although we could engage in endless chatter about how all these various forms of music have evolved). Whether it was Ellington or Armstrong, Presley or the Stones, they all started playing variations on themes originally presented by Handy, Johnson, Dixon and Waters. Personally, I am waiting for the Blues series on PBS, but not holding my breath. Jazz may not get the respect it truly deserves, but Blues gets even less.