Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns

Additional Features

The DVD version of Jazz offers a "music information" mode, in which the title of a song is displayed when it is played in the film. Pressing the Title button jumps the viewer out of the film to a screen that lists that song's composer, performers (including all band members, not just the headliner), year of recording, and album and record company information when applicable (and no, all the credits are not to the series' own CDs). Another click of the Title button returns the viewer to the film. When music information mode is turned off, song titles are not displayed but the Title button still accesses the song credits. Each DVD's scene-selection menu lists only the 10 subchapters, but in fact each song is individually tracked (50 to 80 tracks per DVD).
The DVD set also includes three full-length performances not seen in the film: Louis Armstrong's "I Cover the Waterfront" from 1933, Duke Ellington's "C Jam Blues" from 1942, and Miles Davis's "New Rhumba" from 1959. Finally, the 16-minute documentary "Making of Jazz" provides insight into the production of the film. Ken Burns and producer Lynn Novick (who both admit their lack of musical training) discuss their process of researching and collecting materials, Wynton Marsalis mentions how he suggested to Burns the topic of jazz after the trumpeter became a fan of The Civil War, and narrator Keith David is shown recording his lines. --David Horiuchi

Product Description

From the creator of the Civil War, Baseball and many other acclaimed documentaries comes this epic series celebrating that most American of art forms, Jazz. From it's Blues and Ragtime roots through Swing and into Bebop and Fusion, the growth of Jazz is charted as you watch 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music and rare, unseen photos and footage! 10 DVDs. 2001/B&W/19 hrs./NR/Full Screen. A PBS Home Video., ISBN13: B000BITUEI ISBN10: B000BITUEI Material Type: dvd