In conjunction with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' ten-part 2000 PBS
special, Columbia/Legacy and Verve teamed up to issue a special series
of reissues covering much of the history of 20th century jazz. The
central release of this program is the five-CD box set Ken Burns Jazz:
The Story of America's Music, its 94 selections covering the history of
20th century jazz, from 1917 to the mid-'90s. Chronologically, the set
is very skewed toward the first 50 years of that time span; there is
only just under a CD's worth of music dating from after the mid-'60s.
What's here is a very good range of classic jazz from throughout the
decades, touching upon performances, many acknowledged classics, from
many of the music's giants: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny
Goodman, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious
Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and up to Wynton
Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson. There are just a few dubious inclusions
(Grover Washington, Jr.'s "Mister Magic," for instance), and as music
it's nearly wall-to-wall excellence. As far as core classics of the jazz
repertoire, there are quite a few: Armstrong's "West End Blues,"
Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)," Count Basie's "Lester Leaps
In," Holiday's "Strange Fruit," Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train,"
Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts," Monk's "Straight, No Chaser," Davis' "So
What," Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Weather
Report's "Birdland," and Hancock's "Rockit." As education, if you didn't
know much about jazz before hearing this box, you'll have been exposed
to a good deal of its major touchstones after digesting it. Just don't
be under the impression that it covers all of the main mileposts, or
even that it gives you all of the key launching pads from which to
explore further.
CD1 (72:45)
01. Louis Armstrong - Stardust (3:36)
02. Mississippi Fred McDowell - Soon One Mornin' (Death Come A-Creepin' in My Room) (3:14)
03. Lieut. Jim Europe's 369th Infantry ("Hell Fighters") Band - Memphis Blues (2:38)
04. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band - Livery Stable Blues (3:07)
05. James P. Johnson - Charleston (1:49)
06. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Chimes Blues (2:52)
07. Bessie Smith - Backwater Blues (3:19)
08. Jelly Roll Morton - The Pearls (2:51)
09. Jelly Roll Morton - Dead Man Blues (3:15)
10. Clarence Williams' Blue Five & Sidney Bechet - Wild Cat Blues (3:02)
11. Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home) (2:57)
12. Fletcher Henderson - Sugar Foot Stomp (2:50)
13. Louis Armstrong - Heebie Jeebies (2:54)
14. Louis Armstrong - Potato Head Blues (2:57)
15. Louis Armstrong - West End Blues (3:20)
16. Duke Ellington - The Mooche (3:15)
17. Duke Ellington - East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (2:54)
18. Duke Ellington - Black Beauty (3:03)
19. The Jungle Band - Mood Indigo (3:09)
20. Paul Whiteman - There Ain't No Sweet Man (Worth the Salt of My Tears) (3:31)
21. Frankie Trumbauer & Bix Beiderbecke - Singin' the Blues (3:02)
22. Frankie Trumbauer & Bix Beiderbecke - Riverboat Shuffle (3:09)
23. Fletcher Henderson - Hotter Than 'Ell (2:57)
24. Ethel Waters - I Got Rhythm (3:04)
CD2 (71:48)
01. Duke Ellington - It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (3:11)
02. Duke Ellington - Echoes of Harlem (3:03)
03. Benny Moten - Moten Swing (3:26)
04. Louis Armstrong - St. Louis Blues (3:04)
05. Louis Armstrong - Ain't Misbehavin' (3:15)
06. Jimmie Lunceford - For Dancers Only (2:40)
07. Benny Goodman - King Porter Stomp (3:12)
08. Benny Goodman & Charlie Christian - Rose Room (2:50)
09. Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) (8:41)
10. Count Basie - Jumpin' at the Woodside (3:11)
11. Count Basie - Sent for You Yesterday and Here You Come Today (2:59)
12. Count Basie & Lester Young - Lester Leaps In (3:16)
13. Jones-Smith Incorporated & Count Basie - Oh, Lady, Be Good! (3:09)
14. Billie Holiday - Without Your Love (2:55)
15. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit (3:15)
16. Eddie Heywood & Billie Holiday - God Bless the Child (2:57)
17. Art Tatum - Three Little Words (2:28)
18. Pete Johnson & "Big" Joe Turner - Rebecca (2:44)
19. Chick Webb - Harlem Congo (3:18)
20. Chick Webb - A-Tisket A-Tasket (2:40)
21. Django Reinhardt - Shine (2:59)
22. Noble Sissle - Dear Old Southland (2:35)
CD3 (77:31)
01. Coleman Hawkins - Body and Soul (3:04)
02. Duke Ellington - Cotton Tail (3:15)
03. Duke Ellington - Take the "A" Train (2:58)
04. Artie Shaw - Begin the Beguine (3:16)
05. Glenn Miller - In the Mood (3:37)
06. Tommy Dorsey - Well, Git It! (3:04)
07. Eddie Heywood & Billie Holiday - Solitude (3:16)
08. Gene Krupa - Drum Boogie (3:10)
09. Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts (3:15)
10. Dizzy Gillespie - Groovin' High (2:43)
11. Charlie Parker - Ko-Ko (2:56)
12. Charlie Parker - Scrapple from the Apple (3:01)
13. Charlie Parker - Embraceable You (3:47)
14. Bud Powell - Get Happy (2:53)
15. Thelonious Monk - Epistrophy (3:09)
16. Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser (2:57)
17. Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca (3:10)
18. Miles Davis - Moon Dreams (3:21)
19. Charlie Parker - Just Friends (3:33)
20. Louis Armstrong - Rockin' Chair (3:08)
21. Sarah Vaughan - They Can't Take That Away from Me (2:44)
22. Chet Baker & Gerry Mulligan - Walkin' Shoes (3:13)
23. Billie Holiday - Fine and Mellow (8:01)
CD4 (77:16)
01. Horace Silver - Doodlin' (6:47)
02. Clifford Brown & Max Roach - I Get a Kick Out of You (7:43)
03. Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas (6:45)
04. The Modern Jazz Quartet - Django (7:06)
05. Dave Brubeck - Take Five (5:26)
06. Miles Davis - So What (9:24)
07. John Coltrane - Giant Steps (4:47)
08. Cecil Taylor - Rick Kick Shaw (6:07)
09. Ornette Coleman - Chronology (6:07)
10. Charles Mingus - Original Faubus Fables (9:16)
11. John Coltrane - Acknowledgement (from "A Love Supreme") (7:48)
CD5 (69:45)
01. Louis Armstrong - Hello, Dolly! (2:25)
02. Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Desafinado (5:51)
03. John Coltrane & Duke Ellington - In a Sentimental Mood (4:16)
04. Duke Ellington - Tourist Point of View (5:09)
05. Miles Davis - E.S.P. (5:30)
06. Miles Davis - Spanish Key (2:52)
07. Weather Report - Birdland (5:59)
08. Grover Washington, Jr. - Mister Magic (9:02)
09. Herbie Hancock - Rockit (3:57)
10. Ron Carter & MC Solaar - Un Ange en Danger (3:51)
11. Dexter Gordon - Tanya (7:27)
12. Wynton Marsalis - Soon All Will Know (3:37)
13. Cassandra Wilson - Death Letter (4:14)
14. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra - Take the "A" Train (5:35)
