Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of American Music [22 CD, 2000] [FLAC]

 

Jazz was a 2000 documentary miniseries, directed by Ken Burns. It was broadcast on PBS in 2001, and was released on DVD later that year by the same company.

On November 7, 2000, 22 companion single-artist compilation albums, all titled Ken Burns Jazz, were released by the Verve and Columbia/Legacy labels.

The following albums were released by Verve:

• Count Basie - Allmusic link
• Art Blakey - Allmusic link
• John Coltrane - Allmusic link
• Ella Fitzgerald - Allmusic link
• Dizzy Gillespie - Allmusic link
• Coleman Hawkins - Allmusic link
• Billie Holiday - Allmusic link
• Charlie Parker - Allmusic link
• Sonny Rollins - Allmusic link
• Sarah Vaughan - Allmusic link
• Lester Young - Allmusic link

The following albums were released by Columbia/Legacy:

• Louis Armstrong - Allmusic link
• Sidney Bechet - Allmusic link
• Dave Brubeck - Allmusic link
• Ornette Coleman - Allmusic link
• Miles Davis - Allmusic link
• Duke Ellington - Allmusic link
• Benny Goodman - Allmusic link
• Herbie Hancock - Allmusic link
• Fletcher Henderson - Allmusic link
• Charles Mingus - Allmusic link
• Thelonious Monk - Allmusic link

Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music [ 5 CD soundtrack to documentary series, 2000/FLAC]

 

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.