Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music
This five-CD box set soundtrack to filmmaker Ken Burns's 10-part, 19-hour documentaryJazzspans nearly a century of jazz styles, from the martial rhythms ofJames Reese Europeto the soul-jazz ofGrover Washington Jr.It includes time-tested classics likeBenny 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 byCharlie Parker's orchestral bop version of "Just Friends";Thelonious Monk's nocturnal calling card, "'Round Midnight"; andDizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts" and "Groovin' High."The jazz-instrumentalist-as-singer comes to life onColeman Hawkins's "Body and Soul" andHorace Silverand the Jazz Messengers' "Doodlin'."Clifford BrownandMax Roach's "I Get a Kick out of You" epitomizes the hard-bop era, whileMiles Davis's "So What" stands as the modal masterpiece. The cool school is in session withChet BakerandGerry Mulligandishing out "Walkin' Shoes," and theModern Jazz Quartet's soulful elegy "Django" straddles all the above musical orbits. As forDjango 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" andDuke 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 withWynton 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. AfterCecil TaylorandOrnette 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.