Editorial Review

And what a day it was: nearly 60 jazz musicians, gathered on a Harlem street one morning in 1958 for what photographer Art Kane rightly, if immodestly, calls "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken" (incredibly, it was also Kane's first professional shoot). Like Ken Burns's Read more

Features

• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (15)

A Great Teaching Tool in Harlem
I bought the VHS Tape years ago with the poster of the photograph and have used it to teach about Jazz in my music classes.I am purchasing the DVD for easier navigation for specific instruction.However, the best thing is using the internet to go to the photo at www.harlem.org.There the kids can click on any person in the photo and find all sorts of info about the artist, the instruments, the music, and CDs available. And thanks to Amazon.com, when you click on a CD or album, you can get to hear a sample of the music.The kids love it!

Beyond wonderful
For just about everyone, but specifically jazz lovers, this account of the memorable photograph in Harlem in the late 1950's and is really a necessity, and also a wonderful record of the great jazz musicians of the 40's and 50's.This is like visiting the famous who you'd have loved to have been your friends.

very good.
yeah both these are good but its really all about thephoto. great to see some of milt hinton's cine footage from the day and other fotos too. the stories are all good from the musicians interviewed even if the photographer does come across a bit of a pratt sometimes. well worth it if you are a jazz fan or appreciate modern history. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Jazz    3. Movie   

Editorial Review

Accompanied by a menagerie of products, Ken Burns's expansive 10-episode paean, Read more

Features

• Box set
• Black & White
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (133)

Great Study on Black History
The best thing I like about this documentary is that it is a great study on black History. But it needed to deliver more on what it was supposed to be Jazz Music. I can't believe he left out the great jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Left out Roland Kirk and Keith Jarrett. very little on dave Brubeck. Should have talked about classic Jazz Albums like Kind of blue, Time out (with the song Take Five) A Love Supreme, My favourite things, bitches Brew etc. Also nothing on Milt Jackson and the great Modern Jazz Quartet. Ken burns must realize there's is more to jazz than just the big band swing era. But still a great study on black history which makes it worthwhile just for that alone. and nothing on jazz hip hop. songs like doo bop song(miles Davis) and Jazz thing (gang Starr)

Great Place to Learn about the Older Jazz
This series is fantastic.Many reviewers have criticized it as being dogmatic in its pandering to earlier styles of jazz while panning later ones.This criticism is valid to some degree.I think it provides a great service, howerver, despite its shortcomings.I loved jazz since I was a child, and started buying jazz records in the late 1970s at the age of about 19.Nobody in my family had a great appreciation of this music. At that time it was somewhat difficult to get a handle on the development of jazz through the swing period to the fusion period at that time.The older stuff was generally out of print, etc.Learing about bop was like an archeologist looking at shards of pottery.So a documentary like this is great in this instance; it advanced my knowledge of music before my time unbelievably. I would recommend this highly.It was also nice to watch the documentary with my elderly parents who grew up in the 30s and 40s.It was great to share this with them.I could not believe that they wanted to continue into the bop period watching the series (I always thought they hated my records like that).Finally, being from New Orleans, and surviving Katrina, it was great to see the New Orleans culture treated with such respect.
Great for Jazz fans
I think this film is not as accesible as some of his other works. Whether you like Baseball or not you'll be drawn in, whether you like boxing or not you'll won't be able to stop watching Unforgivable Blackness, I don't think the same could be said for Jazz.It is well made and detailed on the areas it covers, but it might not grab someone that isn't into the topic. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie   

Editorial Review

And what a day it was: nearly 60 jazz musicians, gathered on a Harlem street one morning in 1958 for what photographer Art Kane rightly, if immodestly, calls "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken" (incredibly, it was also Kane's first professional shoot). Like Ken Burns's Read more

Features

• Black & White
• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (15)

A Great Teaching Tool in Harlem
I bought the VHS Tape years ago with the poster of the photograph and have used it to teach about Jazz in my music classes.I am purchasing the DVD for easier navigation for specific instruction.However, the best thing is using the internet to go to the photo at www.harlem.org.There the kids can click on any person in the photo and find all sorts of info about the artist, the instruments, the music, and CDs available. And thanks to Amazon.com, when you click on a CD or album, you can get to hear a sample of the music.The kids love it!

Beyond wonderful
For just about everyone, but specifically jazz lovers, this account of the memorable photograph in Harlem in the late 1950's and is really a necessity, and also a wonderful record of the great jazz musicians of the 40's and 50's.This is like visiting the famous who you'd have loved to have been your friends.

very good.
yeah both these are good but its really all about thephoto. great to see some of milt hinton's cine footage from the day and other fotos too. the stories are all good from the musicians interviewed even if the photographer does come across a bit of a pratt sometimes. well worth it if you are a jazz fan or appreciate modern history. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie   

Editorial Review

A must for students and fans of jazz drumming, Read more

Features

• NTSC

Reviews (7)

Great survey of some great drummers
I could dissect this DVD, but am going to resist the temptation and cite only the drummers who I admire the most and who held my attention.
A mixed bag - aficionados only
I was personallymost excited by the drumming sequence featuring Sunny Murray who seems to exude music through his whole body as if his body was part of the drum kit or the drum kit was an extension of his body.Music has got to be the thing so I'm less taken with Buddy Rich who is the "fastest drummer alive with the greatest technique etc" but I find musically uninteresting.Elvin Jones I was also taken with.The sequence with Louis Bellson was definitely the most accomplished in terms of development, musical interest and structure whilst Joe Morello being described by narrator Peter Erskine as the "poet" of the drum kit, may well be right.For drummers and jazz lovers.

a history lesson
Thankyou Hudson Music for putting this out. It not only helps keep some great drummers music and contributions alive, but its great fun to watch and is very instructional-since you get to see some of the founding fathers of drumming. Every drummer should see these old clips because then you can understand where the great drummers of today come from.Read more

Subjects:  1. Concerts    2. Instructional / Educational    3. Movie    4. Music & Musicals   

Features

• Color
• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Hard Bop    2. Jazz    3. Music Video - Jazz    4. Pop   

Features

• Live
• NTSC

Reviews (3)

Wynton's Messengers
This is a video of one of Blakey's more cohesive ensembles, with the unusual attention to dynamics and the employment of Dixieland textures in the closing theme both testifying to the influence of Wynton Marsalis.The program is primarily "neo-bop," opening with two original numbers based on a minor scale, or Dorian mode, followed by a Wynton feature on Kurt Weil's "My Ship."His playing throughout is flashy if not slick (with a curiously conservative Branford on alto sax and a taking-care-of business Bill Pierce on tenor), but all three horns are lacking in warmth, lyricism and, at times, melodic logic. The star of the session, to my ears, is the unsung pianist, Donald Brown.He's the only musician who "eats up" the "I Got Rhythm" chord changes of the final complete number.
Fantastic
I've Seen this Concert So Many Times&I Never Get Bored with It.Art Blakey is One OF The Baddest Musicians Ever Period&Here He has The Great Talents of The Marsalis's Brothers Here.Wynton&Branford.TheMusic&Arrangements are Fantastic.A Must Have.

Art Blakey really steams up the Smithsonian in this session.
This movie is a must for all Blakey fans. Wynton Marsalis leads the 3-man horn section to deliver a powerful and exhilerating performance. Blakey gets the group rolling and once they start jamming there's no stoppingthem. Blakey sets the stage with his "Jazz Messengers" for Wyntonand Branford Marsalis, as he did for Curtis Fuller, Freddie Hubbard, andCedar Walton. All four songs on this set are amazing, and Wynton isfeatured all alone in the horn section on one. Everyone in this does anamazing job. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Hard Bop    2. Jazz    3. Music Video - Jazz    4. Pop   

Features

• Black & White
• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (7)

The ultimate jazz record label, lovingly documented.
Well, as a fan of jazz I simply never get tired of this film! This 1997 documentary covers all the bases - the background and perspective of Blue Note's founder, Alfred Lion, the recording session atmosphere, the enthusiasm and dedication of the musicians, Francis Wolff's photographs, Reid Miles' covers and Rudy Van Gelder's sound. If you own the Burns series, this film fills in some of the gaps and corrects some of the misconceptions perpetrated by that series' final few episodes, and it does so without all the constant cloying narration. The director does a masterful job of editing and sequencing the various segments to provide an expert and entertaining balance between interviews and performance footage and between coverage of the label's heyday and its contemporary influence. The performance footage for the most part is electrifying, including period clips of Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Thelonious Monk, the Town Hall concert of '85 (showcasing Freddie Hubbard's virtuosity), and Junko Onishi from '96. There is one b&w clip of a Sonny Rollins performance that is just mesmerizing to watch! (The only soft segment for me is a clip of Cassandra Wilson performing one of her tunes in a "smooth jazz" arrangement - ugh!) The interviews are in a variety of settings and include all the right folks such as Blue Note heroes Herbie Hancock and Horace Silver, session players Bob Cranshaw and Tommy Turrentine, industry figures Gil Melle and Michael Cuscuna, Alfred Lion's former wife Lorraine Gordon (interviewed while taking reservations at the Village Vanguard!)and his widow, Ruth Lion, plus several of Lion and Wolff's colleagues from Europe, who give a valuable perspective on the reception of jazz as high art. The soundtrack is well-crafted and indicative of the range of the label's music with selections from artists well known to Blue Note fans like Joe Henderson, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith and Grachan Moncur. This film ranks alongside Monk's documentary "Straight, No Chaser". Highly recommended!

Classic Video
Blue Note is a Dream label to me.the depth&Importance of it is well documented here.so many Great Artists have Made this Label what it is truly in a class of it's own.this is a Jazz Video dream to me.from start to finish everything is special here.

More Great Jazz History That Ken Burns Didn't Cover
This video documents one of the great music labels in the history of American music. Alfred Lion, Blue Note's founder, recorded music that was the real thing, the authentic stuff. No other label in jazz or in any other form of music can boast at accomplishing what Lion and Blue Note were able to do. They were not interested in making hits to attract or pander to a popular audience. This video shows the history of a label in which some of the twentieth century's best musicians could have the freedom to perform and develop the way they wanted. We should be grateful that someone was able to create a space in which such musical expression could take place, and the history of Blue Note is still sadly overlooked for the most part by those attempting to make a definitive statement on jazz history. What it all comes down to is this: Every Blue Note record or CD is worth picking up. You know it will be great. How many other record labels can you say that of? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie    3. Music Video - Jazz   

Features

• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Hard Bop    2. Jazz    3. Music Video - Jazz    4. Pop   

Features

• Compilation
• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Pop   

Features

• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Hard Bop    2. Jazz    3. Pop   

Features

• NTSC

Reviews (1)

A slice of history
Among the fifteen performances on this DVD my favorites were the segments featuring Papa Joe Jones, Blakey and Manne - and, of course, Lionel Hampton who is talented on drums and vibes and a showman of the first order.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Instructional    2. Instructional / Educational    3. Jazz    4. Movie    5. Music & Musicals    6. Special Interests   

Editorial Review

And what a day it was: nearly 60 jazz musicians, gathered on a Harlem street one morning in 1958 for what photographer Art Kane rightly, if immodestly, calls "the greatest picture of that era of musicians ever taken" (incredibly, it was also Kane's first professional shoot). Like Ken Burns's Read more

Features

• PAL

Reviews (15)

A Great Teaching Tool in Harlem
I bought the VHS Tape years ago with the poster of the photograph and have used it to teach about Jazz in my music classes.I am purchasing the DVD for easier navigation for specific instruction.However, the best thing is using the internet to go to the photo at www.harlem.org.There the kids can click on any person in the photo and find all sorts of info about the artist, the instruments, the music, and CDs available. And thanks to Amazon.com, when you click on a CD or album, you can get to hear a sample of the music.The kids love it!

Beyond wonderful
For just about everyone, but specifically jazz lovers, this account of the memorable photograph in Harlem in the late 1950's and is really a necessity, and also a wonderful record of the great jazz musicians of the 40's and 50's.This is like visiting the famous who you'd have loved to have been your friends.

very good.
yeah both these are good but its really all about thephoto. great to see some of milt hinton's cine footage from the day and other fotos too. the stories are all good from the musicians interviewed even if the photographer does come across a bit of a pratt sometimes. well worth it if you are a jazz fan or appreciate modern history. ... Read more