“Gumbo” explores the origins of jazz, charting its development from the 1800s through 1917. The film offers fleeting portraits of Jelly Roll Morton, who famously but inaccurately asserted that he created jazz, and the tragic yet undeniably …

How does one truly account for the genius of a Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington? Endowed with abilities and talents that surpassed all around them, we can only describe what they held as a divine gift. These early portraits are essential, …

The vibrant personalities that populate jazz history—the tragic figure of Bix Beiderbecke, the formidable Bessie Smith, and the boastful Jelly Roll Morton—lend a compelling fascination to its study. Particularly poignant within this narrati…

“The True Welcome” picks up numerous threads woven in Episode 3, charting a difficult period for Louis Armstrong—marked by an arrest for marijuana possession—as well as Duke Ellington's burgeoning career as a composer and Benny Goodman’s fo…

The year 1935 marked swing’s ascendance as America's most beloved music, and heralded Benny Goodman’s rise to heartthrob status. Burdened by the Depression, Americans appeared eager to lose themselves in dance. "Swing: Pure Pleasure" traces…

The evolution of swing music led it back to its blues origins through Kansas City, as Count Basie and his orchestra introduced their vibrant sound to New York City. Basie also provided a crucial early opportunity for Billie Holiday, invitin…

“Dedicated to Chaos” portrays jazz musicians poised at the edge of a new age, rebelling against the constraints of familiar, formulaic big band orchestrations. This upheaval began at Minton’s Playhouse, a modest club where figures such as T…

The impact of the bebop movement resonated among other musicians, yet it never achieved widespread popularity as popular music did. Its rapid improvisations and intricate harmonies made bebop a pursuit for serious musicians, unsuitable for …

Those critics who had dismissed Charlie Parker as musically excessive found themselves facing an even greater challenge with the emergence of Ornette Coleman. Both Coleman and John Coltrane pushed jazz further into uncharted territory, ulti…

It's clear Ken Burns understands that capturing nearly four decades of jazz history within two hours of film is an impossible task, so one shouldn’t anticipate it. While a full biography of John Coltrane exists elsewhere, there are compelli…