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JAZZ: THE GIFT {PART 2 OF 10} (TV)

Summary

The second episode in this ten-part miniseries detailing the history of jazz music in America. This installment begins as Wynton Marsalis describes Louis Armstrong as "the embodiment of jazz," which blossomed into popularity in "the new modern world" following World War I, primarily in Chicago and New York City. Writer Stanley Crouch discusses the specific challenges of Armstrong's favored trumpet, and the program explores Armstrong's impoverished youth in New Orleans just after the turn of the century, including his experiences with racism and closeness with a Jewish family, the Karnofskys, who employed and cared for him. He displayed a talent for music from an early age and, after being arrested and sent to a "colored waifs home," formed a band and impressed the townsfolk with his talents. Young Armstrong had great admiration for local musician Joe "King" Oliver and eventually replaced him as bandleader when Oliver departed for Chicago, and Armstrong began playing on riverboats all around New Orleans. Elsewhere, in New York, James Reese Europe became the bandleader for the so-called "Harlem Hellfighters," the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment. Their band stunned European audiences to the point where they believed the players to have "trick instruments," and Europe's regiment was decorated for bravery in the war and earned a victory parade upon returning to America.

Europe began to merge jazz and ragtime to create a new sound, but was murdered in a disagreement with his drummer, Herbert Wright, in 1919. The Ku Klux Klan gained momentum and began murdering African-Americans, including many war veterans, at an alarming rate, prompting the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 1920 saw the enforcement of Prohibition, leading to the creation of many illegal speakeasies, the ideal place for jazz music to flourish. At the same time, Edward "Duke" Ellington, born to a butler father and a "devoted" mother, took piano lessons and began writing music, starting with "Soda Fountain Rag," and gained popularity through his talent and "eager salesmanship," as described by his granddaughter Mercedes. Influenced by Sydney Bechet, Ellington sought to "ignore categories" and create his own sounds, while elsewhere Armstrong, summoned by Oliver, took part in "the great migration" of black American from the South to Chicago. The two formed a unique and instinctual duet sound, and they soon traveled to Indiana to record music; according to jazz legend, Armstrong was forced to stand far away from the microphone so as not to overpower the other players with his profound style. Their recordings, starting with "Chimes Blues," granted many people outside of the major cities their first taste of jazz, though naysayers, including some middle-class black people, regarded the innovative new style as "vulgar" and a "moral disaster."

The "Harlem Renaissance" saw many noteworthy African-American artists, writers and musicians living in upper Manhattan, which was the birthplace of the "stride" piano style, a form of jazz that emphasizes improvisation. James P. Johnson, inspired by Ellington, wrote the famous "Charleston" piece, and Ellington himself soon moved to Harlem with his bandmates, aided by Johnson's friend and rival, William "The Lion" Smith. Ellington began playing downtown and was joined by James "Bubber" Miley, whose innovative style changed the band completely. They frequently played at the Times Square Hollywood Club, which was changed to the Club Kentucky after burning down in an "accidental" fire. Will Marion Cook urged Ellington to take formal lessons, though Ellington strove to formulate his own unique style, while elsewhere, in Illinois, several young white musicians formed the Austin High Gang. They traveled into Chicago to see Armstrong and Louis play together and eventually developed their own version of jazz, known as "Chicago style." The ironically named bandleader Paul Whiteman strove to create an orchestral form of jazz that was "precise and predictable," and when he performed George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924, he was deemed "the king of jazz." Many black performers took umbrage with a white man being hailed as the leader of the genre, though Whiteman himself intended only to "respect and elevate" the style and wished to hired black musicians, though segregation laws forbade the races from playing together.

Chemistry student Fletcher Henderson developed a reputation as an exceptional bandleader at the Roseland Ballroom in New York and was soon regarded as Whiteman's black "counterpart," and the two became friends and often shared musical material with one another. In 1924, Armstrong married his fellow band member Lil Hardin, who noted that she initially disliked her larger-than-life colleague, and she soon began urging him to leave Oliver's side and strike out on his own. Armstrong was doubtful – until he was summoned to New York by Henderson, and he began playing new pieces written specifically for him and, as Marsalis explains, defined the concept of "swing" for East Coast audiences. He was able to reach greater audience through recordings, and his prowess defined the "vocabulary" of jazz for musicians and fans everywhere.

The program concludes with narrator Keith David discussing his voiceover work on the project alongside director Ken Burns, followed by Armstrong's performance of "I Cover the Waterfront." Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: PBS
  • DATE: November 29, 2000 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:56:45
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:74586
  • GENRE: Education/Information
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Education/Information; Jazz; African-American Collection - Music; African-American Collection - News/Talk
  • SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 2001
  • COMMERCIALS:
    • TV - Commercials - "Jazz" series home video, CD set and book
    • TV - Commercials - General Motors products

CREDITS

  • Ken Burns … Executive Producer, Director
  • Pam Tubridy Baucom … Coordinating Producer
  • Lynn Novick … Producer
  • Peter Miller … Co-Producer
  • Victoria Gohl … Co-Producer
  • Sarah Botstein … Associate Producer
  • Natalie Bullock Brown … Associate Producer
  • Shola Lynch … Associate Producer
  • Karen Kenton … Associate Producer
  • Madison Davis Lacy … Consulting Producer
  • Geoffrey C. Ward … Writer
  • Keith David … Narrator
  • Harry Connick Jr. … Voice
  • Eric George … Voice
  • Samuel L. Jackson … Voice
  • Courtney B. Vance … Voice
  • Ann Duquesnay … Voice
  • Philip Bosco … Voice
  • Kevin Conway … Voice
  • Cherry Jones … Voice
  • Joe Morton … Voice
  • Delroy Lindo … Voice
  • Adam Arkin … Voice
  • Matthew Broderick … Voice
  • James Naughton … Voice
  • Wynton Marsalis … Interviewee
  • Stanley Crouch … Interviewee
  • Mercedes Ellington … Interviewee
  • Austin High Gang, The
  • Sidney Bechet
  • Will Marion Cook
  • Duke Ellington (see also: Edward Ellington)
  • James Reese Europe
  • George Gershwin
  • Lil Hardin (see also: Lil Hardin Armstrong)
  • Fletcher Henderson
  • James P. Johnson
  • James "Bubber" Miley
  • Joe Oliver (see also: King Oliver)
  • William "The Lion" Smith
  • Paul Whiteman
  • Herbert Wright