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Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music
Music CD CoverEdition: Music CD Format: Box set, Original recording remastered CD Release Date: 2000-11-14 Music Label: Sony Soundtracks: Music CD 1- Star Dust - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
- Soon One Mornin' (Death Come A-Creepin' in My Room0 - Mississippi
- Memphis Blues - Lieut. Jim Europe's 369th Infantry ("Hell Fighters") Band
- Livery Stable Blues - The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
- Charleston - James P. Johnson
- Chimes Blues - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
- Back Water Blues - Bessie Smith
- The Pearls - Jelly Roll Morton
- Dead Man Blues - Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers
- Wild Cat Blues - Clarence Williams's Blue Five
- Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home) - Clarence Williams's Blue Five
- Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
- Heebie Jeebies - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
- Potato Head Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven
- West End Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
- The Mooche - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- East St. Louis Toodle-Oo - Duke Ellington & His Washingtonians
- Black Beauty - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- Mood Indigo - The Jungle Band
- There Ain't No Sweet Man (Worth The Salt Of My Tears) - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
- Singin' The Blues - Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
- Riverboat Shuffle - Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
- Hotter Than 'Ell - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
- I Got Rhythm - Ethel Waters
Music CD 2- It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- Echoes of Harlem - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- Moten Swing - Benny Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
- St. Louis blues - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
- Ain't Misbehavin' - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
- For Dancers Only - Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra
- King Porter Stomp - Benny goodman & His Orchestra
- Rose Room - The Benny Goodman Sextet
- Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) - Benny Goodman Sextet
- Jumpin' at the Woodside - Count Basie & His Orchestra
- Sent for You Yesterday and Here You Come Today - Count Basie & His Orchestra
- Lester Leaps In - Count Basie's Kansas City Seven
- Oh, Lady, Be Good! - Jones-Smith Incorporated
- Without Your Love - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
- Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
- God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra
- Three Little Words - Art Tatum
- Rebecca - Pete Johnson & "Big" Joe Turner
- Harlem Congo - Chick Webb & His Orchestra
- A-Tisket, A-Tasket - Chick Webb & His Orchestra featuring Ella Fitzgerald
- Shine - Django Reinhardt & Le Quartet du Hot Club de France
- Dear Old Southland - Noble Sissle & His Orchestra
Music CD 3- Body and Soul - Coleman Hawkins
- Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- Take the 'A' Train - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
- In The Mood - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
- Well, Git It! - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
- Solitude - Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra
- Drum Boogie - Gene Krupa & His Orchestra
- Salt Peanuts - Dizzy Gillespie & His All Star Quintet
- Groovin' High - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
- Ko-ko - Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers
- Scrapple From the Apple - Charlie Parker Quintet
- Enbraceable You - Charlie Parker Quintet
- Get Happy - Bud Powell Trio
- Epistrophy - Thelonious Monk
- Straight, No Chaser - Thelonious Monk
- Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra
- Moon Dreams - Miles Davis Nonet
- Just Friends - Charlie Parker
- Rockin' Chair - Louis Armstrong
- They Can't Take That Away From Me - Sarah Vaughan & Her Trio
- Walkin' Shoes - Chet Baker & Gerry Mulligan
- Fine and Mellow - Billie Holiday
Music CD 4- Doodlin' - Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers
- I Get A Kick Out of You - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
- St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins
- Django - The Modern Jazz Quartet
- Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
- So What - Miles Davis Sextet
- Giant Steps - John Coltrane
- Rick Kick Shaw - Cecil Taylor Trio
- Chronology - Ornette Coleman
- Original Faubus Fables - Charles Mingus
- Acknowledgment - John Coltrane Quartet
Music CD 5- Hello, Dolly! - Louis Armstrong
- Desafinado - Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd
- In a Sentimental Mood - Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
- Tourist Point of View - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
- E.S.P. - The Miles Davis Quintet
- Spanish Key (single version) - Miles Davis
- Birdland - Weather Report
- Mister Magic - Grover Washington, Jr
- Rockit - Herbie Hancock
- Un Ange en Danger - M.C. Solaar & Ron Carter
- Tanya - Dexter Gordon
- Soon All Will Know - Wynton Marsalis
- Death Letter - Cassandra Wilson
- Take The "A" Train - The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
Free Music Notes for Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American MusicFree Music Review: Not the whole story, but a good start Hit: 5 StarsWhen I discussed the Ric Burns documentary about the old West with an Amerindian acquaintance, I complained that the film concentrated on the Lakota, to the exclusion of other peoples. My friend answered that, as the Lakota was the best known native American culture, that was a good place to start, and the audience would then move on to learn about other parts of the story.
I suppose the same is true of the documentary by Ric's brother Ken Burns, on the history of Jazz, on which this box set is based. It is heavy on Louis Armstrong and on the Big Band sound of the Swing era - probably the Jazz best known to the general public - but light in other areas, including the many, varied strands of Jazz in the last 30 years or so. There is a whole series of albums in the Ken Burns Jazz Collection, featuring individual artists, for those who want to pursue the story and start to fill in the gaps.
It is easy to list regrettable omissions from this set (and many reviewers have done so) and just as easy to point out how impossible it is to do full justice to a century of music that had multiple sources and spread rapidly to a plethora of sub-genres (and many reviewers have done that too). The omission of Erroll Garner is one that struck me, especially ironic as the booklet accompanying this set has his name displayed on the cover! The British Trad Jazz that took hold in the early 50s and is still going strong (Chris Barber, Kenny Ball and their followers) is another indispensible part of Jazz history that finds no place in this collection. I realize that this is specifically titled the story of American music, but Django Reinhardt gets a look in, as does some forgettable French rapper.
But this collection of 94 tracks, featuring recordings from 1917 to 1995, attractively packaged and with good notes, remains a great introduction to Jazz. In fact, now that the price has come down so much, it can be recommended for every music fan.
Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music PosterThis five-CD box set soundtrack to filmmaker Ken Burns's 10-part, 19-hour documentary Jazz spans nearly a century of jazz styles, from the martial rhythms of James Reese Europe to the soul-jazz of Grover Washington Jr. It includes time-tested classics like Benny Goodman's 1938 classic, "Sing, Sing, Sing"; John Coltrane's chanting 1965 immortal track, "A Love Supreme"; Billie Holiday's blue-ember ballad, "God Bless the Child"; and Ella Fitzgerald peeling off "A-Tisket A-Tasket." Bebop is represented by Charlie Parker's orchestral bop version of "Just Friends"; Thelonious Monk's nocturnal calling card, "'Round Midnight"; and Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts" and "Groovin' High." The jazz-instrumentalist-as-singer comes to life on Coleman Hawkins's "Body and Soul" and Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers' "Doodlin'." Clifford Brown and Max Roach's "I Get a Kick out of You" epitomizes the hard-bop era, while Miles Davis's "So What" stands as the modal masterpiece. The cool school is in session with Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan dishing out "Walkin' Shoes," and the Modern Jazz Quartet's soulful elegy "Django" straddles all the above musical orbits. As for Django Reinhardt, he's featured on "Shine" with the justly famed Le Quartet du Hot Club de France. Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" and "Potato Head Blues" and Duke Ellington's rousing rendition of Billy Strayhorn's anthem, "Take the A Train," and his moody "Solitude" show why they are the Olympian masters of this art form--and the most frequently featured artists in the series. Although Ken Burns tries bringing the music up-to-date with Wynton Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson, and two jazz-hip-hop-influenced tracks--Herbie Hancock's robotic "Rockit" and the French-language "Un Aige en Danger" by MC Solaar and bass legend Ron Carter--there are significant holes here. After Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, the avant-garde period from the late 1960s to the 1980s is lacking. And aside from the bossa nova hit "Desafinado," Latin jazz is also missing. It's a tough task summarizing jazz in five CDs, and Burns has given us a vibrant and vivid multicolored aural portrait of the music. --Eugene Holley Jr.
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