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Charlie Parker And The Stars Of Modern Jazz At Carnegie Hall, Christmas 1949

For me it isn't Wynton. He is charismatic and he gets to explain some of what's happening musically. I agree with @Stompin at the Savoy - Much worse than Wynton are all the Wynton-adjacent critics, like Gary Giddins. They just wiffle on and say nothing at all. The series has some major issues. The two worst elements for me are the absurd amount of time allocated to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington postwar, and the general collapse in coverage once you move past 1947. The best episodes are the ones on swing music, including early Ellington, but particularly on the swing music of the 1940s. Episodes 4, 5 and 6 are really quite strong.

I remember the whole story. Not Fantasy's finest hour; they reacted like jerks.

I listened to my LP of Vol. 3 of the "All Night Sessions" this morning again and did not hear any sonic anomalies like you describe them. FWIW, if you fancy listening in to a faint radio station "behind" the music, I'd suggest Country Routes RFD 9004 (Bob Wills - Harmony Park Airshots January 1953).

Don't you wish they had gotten some people who really know the music to give short talks about the various developments in jazz. And not Wynton Marsalis, who is knowledgeable and a good player but should be taken in micro-doses. Without getting too technical they could have gotten somebody like Dick Hyman to play the same thing as swing, vs bebop for example and show the characteristics and some of the nitty gritty of it. Instead we got non-musicians, enthusiastic but vague, going on about how great various players were. We have a notion they are great; tell us why.

I remember watching the entire series of videos (they were aired on one of our TV channels and I taped them to VHS) and I was truly impressed by the historic footage. And this is one of the reasons I've kept them and why I'd like to watch them again (but am not sure I'd want to find out how the VHS cassettes have stood the test of time and whether my VHS player might foul up so somehow keep postponing it ). But the interviews and narrations? I dunno ... And the skewedness of how and why (as if ...) the entire history of jazz could be hinged on Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington ... Oh well ... (The same goes for the accompanying book IMO, BTW, although on a different level it is an interesting and rewarding one, though to be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to how balanced the presentation of the history really is.) Overall it really looks like one of those cases of someone succeeding in the media world by placing himself in the center of attention of "key players" and multiplicators in the business, regardless of how substantial and well-founded the KNOWLEDGE he has to offer really is. But isn't that what the media business has been all about for along time? Making waves and slinging easily digestible buzzwords is what counts above all. Something substantial? Not so much .... As in most specialist areas (particularly when history and knowledge of same comes into play) there are plenty out there who are way more knowledgeable but they are not the ones who have endeared themselves with and therefore are called upon by the deciders.

One of the things Burns does is ask all interviewees certain leading questions and get them to answer in much the same way. This becomes the thread of his story and each of the interviews sort of confirms this thread. Never mind that it's shallow and maybe even wrong. In the jazz series he never really discusses what's different about this music, what's going on with each development, what's good about it, etc. It's all just glossy panning of old photos and shallow generalizations... and praise, lots of praise! Endless clips of various talking heads enthusing about some musician without any real attempt to explain why.

I have only seen bits and pieces of it and it is little wonder how little Ken Burns knew about jazz. What was bizarre to me was having Wynton Marsalis talking about what it was like playing with Duke Ellington, the question would have been better asked of Clark Terry.

In understand that’s difficult but… it’s kind of inevitable isn’t it? What a bizarre story.

Ha ... 2 out of 3 of your post will be lined up here too for Christmas Eve. They are what you might call "common ground" palatable to my better half and our son. Will also spin "Kenton's Christmas" to myself during the day, though.

Art Pepper: Everything Happens To Me

F1 - Apple+

Finally got around to decorating our tree, and as always, this was the go-to music for that activity, going back to my childhood:

Ornette Coleman, Sadness Charles Mingus, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat Duke Ellington Orchestra (composed by Billy Strayhorn), Dirge Eric Dolphy, You Don't Know What Love Is Booker Ervin, A Day To Mourn David Newman, Violet Don't Be Blue Charlie Parker, Embraceable You Booker Little, If I Should Lose You Shirley Horn, If You Go Away

Disc One

Me too!

Phineas on the Young Men From Memphis album is pretty funky.

Some of Burns is pretty good -BUT not the jazz series which I didn't like.

My high school library had some spoken word things and I had a turntable that could handle them. Pretty lo-fi.

Sonny Rollins: You Don't Know What Love Is on Saxophone Colossus (not a "jazz" song, but a jazz version).

Just read this old thread after it came up. I agree wholeheartedly with Christiern - Burns is a big fraud. I've often wondered at the way people gush over his stuff, which is mostly panning still photos and repetitious music. Slick tv with very poor interviews and scripts. I watched some or most of the jazz series and found it frustrating because there was talking over the music and they never played a tune complete, not to mention the dumb narrative he carves out of the interviews.

$46 - is that the best price??