While the Civil War is far enough in the past for its roots in slavery to have become mostly academic in white society, and baseball has long been integrated since Jackie Robinson's courageous entry into the white major leagues, jazz remains a strange animal to most Americans. Try as they might, even devoted fans can't ignore the music's racial underpinnings. You need Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to tell you what to do inside that bedroom. Late in episode seven, pianist Dave Brubeck, a Wilton resident who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, talks about his experiences leading an integrated band in Europe during World War II, when the Armed Forces were segregated. The man was branded on his chest.
Jazz is accepted as the music of freedom.
It's more important than baseball. At the end of the segment, Brubeck breaks down and cries on camera. It is a supremely moving moment, one that should wash away any cynicism about Brubeck being a white panderer to the music masses. Coming from Smith, that is high praise indeed. Burns, in his fashion, has also reconstructed a cultural history of the American century in his film.