Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music [Box set]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This 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.

From Jazziz
Ken Burns Jazz - The Story of America's Music collects 94 tracks of music on five CDs along with 48 pages of annotation, explanation, and photographic documentation. It's all in the service of telling a tale of Americans working together, overcoming differences and conflicts, and moving toward a common goal. The general backdrop, of course, is the development of an indigenous music and its intertwinings with American life throughout the 20th century. But the central characters of this boxed-set... read more

Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music [Box set]

Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music, Music, Various Artists, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Avant-Garde, Avant-Garde Jazz, Ballads, Big Band, Bop, Box Sets (Audio Only), Classic Female Blues, Classic Jazz, Cool, Crossover Jazz, Dance Bands, Dixieland, Free Jazz, Fusion, Hard Bop, Jazz, Jazz Blues, Jazz Collections, Jazz Music, Jazz-Funk, Latin Jazz, Mainstream Jazz, Modal Music, New Orleans Jazz, Pop, Post-Bop, Progressive Big Band, Standards, Stride, Sweet Bands, Swing, Traditional Pop, Vocal Jazz, West Coast Jazz, World Fusion
Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • A Good Selection, An Odd Accompaniment to the Documentary
  • Great Intro to Jazz
  • Ken Burn's Jazz CD
  • A must have..
  • Good starter set for jazz beginners
 Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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  2. Jazz - A Film By Ken Burns
  3. The History of Jazz
  4. Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey
  5. Jazz Styles: History and Analysis (9th Edition)

ASIN: B000050HVG
Release Date: 2000-11-14

Tracks:

  1. Star Dust - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
  2. Soon One Mornin' (Death Come A-Creepin' in My Room0 - Mississippi
  3. Memphis Blues - Lieut. Jim Europe's 369th Infantry ("Hell Fighters") Band
  4. Livery Stable Blues - The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
  5. Charleston - James P. Johnson
  6. Chimes Blues - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
  7. Back Water Blues - Bessie Smith
  8. The Pearls - Jelly Roll Morton
  9. Dead Man Blues - Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers
  10. Wild Cat Blues - Clarence Williams's Blue Five
  11. Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home) - Clarence Williams's Blue Five
  12. Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
  13. Heebie Jeebies - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
  14. Potato Head Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven
  15. West End Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
  16. The Mooche - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  17. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo - Duke Ellington & His Washingtonians
  18. Black Beauty - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  19. Mood Indigo - The Jungle Band
  20. There Ain't No Sweet Man (Worth The Salt Of My Tears) - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
  21. Singin' The Blues - Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
  22. Riverboat Shuffle - Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
  23. Hotter Than 'Ell - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
  24. I Got Rhythm - Ethel Waters

Tracks:

  1. It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  2. Echoes of Harlem - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  3. Moten Swing - Benny Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
  4. St. Louis blues - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
  5. Ain't Misbehavin' - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
  6. For Dancers Only - Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra
  7. King Porter Stomp - Benny goodman & His Orchestra
  8. Rose Room - The Benny Goodman Sextet
  9. Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) - Benny Goodman Sextet
  10. Jumpin' at the Woodside - Count Basie & His Orchestra
  11. Sent for You Yesterday and Here You Come Today - Count Basie & His Orchestra
  12. Lester Leaps In - Count Basie's Kansas City Seven
  13. Oh, Lady, Be Good! - Jones-Smith Incorporated
  14. Without Your Love - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  15. Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
  16. God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra
  17. Three Little Words - Art Tatum
  18. Rebecca - Pete Johnson & "Big" Joe Turner
  19. Harlem Congo - Chick Webb & His Orchestra
  20. A-Tisket, A-Tasket - Chick Webb & His Orchestra featuring Ella Fitzgerald
  21. Shine - Django Reinhardt & Le Quartet du Hot Club de France
  22. Dear Old Southland - Noble Sissle & His Orchestra

Tracks:

  1. Body and Soul - Coleman Hawkins
  2. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  3. Take the 'A' Train - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  4. Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
  5. In The Mood - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
  6. Well, Git It! - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
  7. Solitude - Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra
  8. Drum Boogie - Gene Krupa & His Orchestra
  9. Salt Peanuts - Dizzy Gillespie & His All Star Quintet
  10. Groovin' High - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
  11. Ko-ko - Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers
  12. Scrapple From the Apple - Charlie Parker Quintet
  13. Enbraceable You - Charlie Parker Quintet
  14. Get Happy - Bud Powell Trio
  15. Epistrophy - Thelonious Monk
  16. Straight, No Chaser - Thelonious Monk
  17. Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra
  18. Moon Dreams - Miles Davis Nonet
  19. Just Friends - Charlie Parker
  20. Rockin' Chair - Louis Armstrong
  21. They Can't Take That Away From Me - Sarah Vaughan & Her Trio
  22. Walkin' Shoes - Chet Baker & Gerry Mulligan
  23. Fine and Mellow - Billie Holiday

Tracks:

  1. Doodlin' - Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers
  2. I Get A Kick Out of You - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
  3. St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins
  4. Django - The Modern Jazz Quartet
  5. Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
  6. So What - Miles Davis Sextet
  7. Giant Steps - John Coltrane
  8. Rick Kick Shaw - Cecil Taylor Trio
  9. Chronology - Ornette Coleman
  10. Original Faubus Fables - Charles Mingus
  11. Acknowledgment - John Coltrane Quartet

Tracks:

  1. Hello, Dolly! - Louis Armstrong
  2. Desafinado - Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd
  3. In a Sentimental Mood - Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
  4. Tourist Point of View - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
  5. E.S.P. - The Miles Davis Quintet
  6. Spanish Key (single version) - Miles Davis
  7. Birdland - Weather Report
  8. Mister Magic - Grover Washington, Jr
  9. Rockit - Herbie Hancock
  10. Un Ange en Danger - M.C. Solaar & Ron Carter
  11. Tanya - Dexter Gordon
  12. Soon All Will Know - Wynton Marsalis
  13. Death Letter - Cassandra Wilson
  14. Take The "A" Train - The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

Amazon.com

This 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.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars A Good Selection, An Odd Accompaniment to the Documentary.......2007-04-25

To chronicle the first six decades or so of American jazz in five CD's is an ambitious undertaking. Ken Burns pulled it off by making it the soundtrack to stories he wanted to tell. This made for heavy representation of songs from Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis easy choices. The documentary, in some ways, tells like an allegory of racism and civil rights in 20th century America, yet the soundrack includes white musicians like Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Dave Brubek and Benny Goodman in the CD selections. Brubek's inclusion is particularly notable after the documentary was so dismissive of "West Coast Jazz" - I don't even remember Take 5 being mentioned in the documentary. It would have been nice to include Bill Evans since every jazz pianist that followed him credited Evans as an influence, but his work as side man on "So What" is all we get. Herbie Hancock's Rockit is nowhere close to representative of his body of work. My main disappointment is that after Free Jazz and the like, jazz had nowhere left to go except backwards, yet the contemporary "pop" jazz at the end comes across as the latest and greatest thing yet. I respectfully disagree.

5 out of 5 stars Great Intro to Jazz.......2007-03-23

For those just getting into Jazz or just need a refresher course this is a great CD. I brought it for my husband who is a big Jazz fan and he just loves it and gets alot of use out of them.

5 out of 5 stars Ken Burn's Jazz CD.......2007-01-14

A great cd with many remastered original recordings of jazz greats. Each cd features a different jazz era, so one can select a jazz genre to suit one's mood.

5 out of 5 stars A must have.........2007-01-05

..for any jazz fan or music history buff. LOADS of content, hours and hours of great music.

5 out of 5 stars Good starter set for jazz beginners.......2006-02-22

This is a beautifully packaged 5 disc set highlighting some of the greatest jazz artists of all time. If you buy this set and are really excited about the sound and the masterful artists presented then, I highly recommend collecting the 22 discs of individual artists by Burns which showcase the popular and influential music of those artists. Having all of the Ken Burns Jazz editions is of course just a start but a good start into the world of jazz it will be.

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