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Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of jazz — the quintessential American art form. The 10-part series follows the growth and development of jazz music from its beginnings to the present.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Episode 1: “Gumbo (Beginnings to 1917)” airs Sunday, Jan. 10 at Noon on KPBS TV - Jazz is born in the unique musical and social cauldron of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, emerging from such genres as ragtime, marching bands, work songs, spirituals, European classical music, funeral parade music and the blues.
Episode 2: “The Gift (1917-1924)” airs Sunday, Jan. 17 at Noon on KPBS TV - During the tumultuous era known as the “Jazz Age,” the rhythms and spirit of jazz music mirror the world that emerged in the wake of World War I. The program introduces two extraordinary individuals: Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.
Episode 3: “Our Language (1924-1928)” airs Sunday, Jan. 24 at Noon on KPBS TV - Follow musicians Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Sidney Bechet, Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington, who begins his incomparable career as the pre-eminent composer in jazz history.
Episode 4: “The True Welcome (1929-1935)” airs Sunday, Jan. 31 at Noon on KPBS TV - Amid the Depression, the Lindy Hop begins to catch on at dance halls. The reminiscences of two of Harlem’s great dancers, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller, inform the episode. As swing dancing catches on, a new kind of big band jazz begins to emerge.
Episode 5: “Swing: Pure Pleasure (1935-1937)” airs Sunday, Feb. 7 at Noon on KPBS TV - Big band jazz—swing—becomes the most popular music in America. Some fans, disturbed by its popularity, start a movement to embrace “traditional” jazz. In the western “territories,” a blues-soaked big band style is set to further transform jazz.
Episode 6: “Swing: The Velocity of Celebration (1937-1939)” airs Sunday, Feb. 14 at Noon on KPBS TV - As the Great Depression deepens, jazz thrives. The saxophone emerges as an iconic instrument of the music and women musicians emerge on the jazz scene. Benny Goodman holds the first-ever jazz concert at Carnegie Hall.
Episode 7: “Dedicated to Chaos (1940-1945)” airs Sunday, Feb. 21 at Noon on KPBS TV - Young rebels take jazz in startling 12 new directions, but their innovations are largely unnoticed amidst the war effort. In Europe, jazz is banned by the Nazis and embraced by their opponents as a symbol of freedom and democracy.
Episode 8: “Risk (1945-1955)” broadcast date TBA - Jazz, the official symbol of American democracy abroad, splinters at home into different camps: white and black, cool and hot, East and West, traditional and modern. Miles Davis becomes the most influential musician of his generation.
Episode 9: “The Adventure (1955-1960)” broadcast date TBA - As rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll erode jazz’ audience further, the music nonetheless enjoys a time of great creativity. Free-jazz challenges all the jazz conventions, provoking a debate about the genre’s definition that continues to this day.
Episode 10: “A Masterpiece by Midnight (1961-Present)” airs Sunday, May 22 at 2 p.m. - In the 1960s, jazz becomes divided into “schools”—Dixieland, swing, bop, hard bop, cool, modal, free, avant-garde. The question of what is jazz and what isn’t rages, dividing audiences, dividing musicians, dividing generations.
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This series originally aired in 2001.
