Re: Burns Jazz Again

This series is extremely reactionary!

I could hardly wait for Part 10 so I could see what Burns wanted to highlight from the last 40 years and maybe see some footage of the artists that I cut my teeth on. More than half of the two hour program seemed to be about the final years and deaths of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington! In addition to the completely overlooked musicians that Neil mentioned, you can add Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry, Albert Ayler, the whole Third Stream movement and on and on. The list of current acts that was covered by the program seemed similarly abbreviated and insignificant. I can't believe how little time was given to Wayne Shorter, especially since he is one of the finest jazz composer from that period.

Jazz never did die. Ken Burns just makes us think that it did and that it has been convalescing for the last half a century. That's fine for him, but to portray it the way he did is to rewrite history. It's not the first time he's done that.

"Neil Haverstick" <STICK@USWEST.NET> wrote:
> � �Ok, I'm sure I'm not the only person to complain about this last
> show, but how do you give Wynton a slot, while overlooking McLaughlin,
> Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, Allan Holdsworth, Terje Rypdal, Zawinul,
> Jaco, and many others, who really attempted (and often succeeded) in
> bringing a truly new and creative form of music to life, made of many
> different musical elements, which is what jazz was/is supposed to be in
> the first place? Huh? Indeed, Marsalis is certainly a gifted musician,
> but surely not innovative, and he's definitely not trying to move
> American music forward, as far as I can see. And, there's the scary part
> about this whole series, and our current state of musical affairs in
> general...the creative and innovative is a very teensy part of people's
> mindset right now, and judging by the result of the election, it isn't
> getting better soon. But, I truly hope for a creative backlash against
> the reactionary mood of the country, and I hope it's fueled by folks
> like us, who, thank God, really do seem to be an island of the future,
> in a sea of the past...Hstick

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