ComfortComes

JAZZ: A Film by Ken Burns

Jazz. Ken Burns says it is the only art form created by Americans. And Ken Burns should know. He is the brainchild behind what is probably the most extensive audio visual study of the history of jazz ever to hit televisions anywhere. Originally released in 2001, JAZZ features 10 episodes of nearly 19 hours of film, close to 500 pieces of music, and interviews with every well known member of the jazz community that was still alive at the time. Of course when I learned of its existence, a jazz nut like myself was more than prepared to spend a solid 19 hours on the couch to take in JAZZ in all its glory. Preparations were made, non-perishables gathered, and phone lines severed. Although in the end I had to settle for several 10-milers instead of the marathon, Ken Burns did not disappoint.

The documentary begins in New Orleans, where African American musicians have created a new sound by mixing rhythmic ragtime syncopation with the blues. We meet the first jazz pianist, cornetist, and clarinetist. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band travels to New York and makes the first recording of the genre, igniting nationwide enthusiasm.

In the following nine episodes, JAZZ breaks history into segments that feature the most important movements and musicians of each era. Episode 5, for example, details the beginning swing years of 1935-1937, while Episode 8 covers ten years (1945-1955) that detail the shift toward bebop with artists like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonius Monk. From Dixieland to avant-garde, every movement in the evolution of jazz is explored, as well as the social conditions from which they are inspired.

Jazz has a unique and complicated story to tell. As described by Ken Burns himself, “Jazz has offered a precise prism through which so much of American history can be seen — it is a curious and unusually objective witness to the 20th Century. It is the story of two world wars and a devastating Depression — the soundtrack that helped Americans get through the worst of times. Jazz is about sex, the way men and women talk to each other, and negotiate the complicated rituals of courtship; a sophisticated and elegant mating call that has all but disappeared from popular music in recent times. It is about drugs and the terrible cost of addiction and the high price of creativity. It is about the growth and explosion of radio and the soul of great American cities — New Orleans (where the music was born), Chicago, Kansas City and New York (where it grew up). It is about immigration and assimilation and feeling dispossessed — and the music that came to the rescue. It is about movement and dance and showing your behind. It’s about entertainment — the frequently dismissed but sacred communion between artist and audience. It’s about solitude and loneliness and the nearly unbearable burden of consciousness. It’s about suffering and celebration — it’s hugely about celebration — and tapping your feet. And JAZZ is also a story about race and race relations and prejudice, about minstrelsy and Jim Crow, lynchings and civil rights. JAZZ explores the uniquely American paradox that our greatest art form was created by those who have had the peculiar experience of being unfree in our supposedly free land… Embedded in the music, in its riveting biographies and soaring artistic achievement, can be found our oft-neglected conscience, a message of hope and transcendence, of affirmation in the face of adversity, unequaled in the unfolding drama and parade we call American history.”

Well said, Ken Burns. And while I am not going to call on you to ditch your hotdogs and fireworks this 4th of July to spend nineteen hours celebrating America by camping out with your remote control and Mr. Burns, I am going to recommend JAZZ to you as an excellent way to learn more about this country and the people who make its music. And now that I’ve mentioned it, cooking hot dogs on a hot plate isn’t sounding half bad. Perhaps it is time to give the marathon another go.