This five-CD box set soundtrack to filmmaker Ken Burns's 10-part, 19-hour documentary Jazz spans nearly a century of jazz styles, from the martial rhythms of James Reese Europe to the soul-jazz of Grover Washington Jr.
It includes time-tested classics like Benny Goodman's 1938 classic, "Sing, Sing, Sing"; John Coltrane's chanting 1965 immortal track, "A Love Supreme"; Billie Holiday's blue-ember ballad, "God Bless the Child"; and Ella Fitzgerald peeling off "A-Tisket A-Tasket." Bebop is represented by Charlie Parker's orchestral bop version of "Just Friends"; Thelonious Monk's nocturnal calling card, "'Round Midnight"; and Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts" and "Groovin' High." The jazz-instrumentalist-as-singer comes to life on Coleman Hawkins's "Body and Soul" and Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers' "Doodlin'." Clifford Brown and Max Roach's "I Get a Kick out of You" epitomizes the hard-bop era, while Miles Davis's "So What" stands as the modal masterpiece. The cool school is in session with Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan dishing out "Walkin' Shoes," and the Modern Jazz Quartet's soulful elegy "Django" straddles all the above musical orbits. As for Django Reinhardt, he's featured on "Shine" with the justly famed Le Quartet du Hot Club de France. Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" and "Potato Head Blues" and Duke Ellington's rousing rendition of Billy Strayhorn's anthem, "Take the A Train," and his moody "Solitude" show why they are the Olympian masters of this art form--and the most frequently featured artists in the series. Although Ken Burns tries bringing the music up-to-date with Wynton Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson, and two jazz-hip-hop-influenced tracks--Herbie Hancock's robotic "Rockit" and the French-language "Un Aige en Danger" by MC Solaar and bass legend Ron Carter--there are significant holes here. After Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, the avant-garde period from the late 1960s to the 1980s is lacking. And aside from the bossa nova hit "Desafinado," Latin jazz is also missing. It's a tough task summarizing jazz in five CDs, and Burns has given us a vibrant and vivid multicolored aural portrait of the music.
Disc 1
01-Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra - Star Dust [1931]
02-Creepin' in My Room0 - Mississippi - Soon One Mornin' (Death Come A-Creepin' In My Room) [1959]
03-Lieut. Jim Europe's 369th Infantry (Hell Fighters) Band - Memphis Blues [1919]
04-The Original Dixieland Jazz Band - Livery Stable Blues [1917]
05-James P. Johnson - Charleston [1925]
06-King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Chimes Blues [1923]
07-Bessie Smith - Back Water Blues [1927]
08-Jelly Roll Morton - The Pearls [1926]
09-Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers - Dead Man Blues [1926]
10-Clarence Williams's Blue Five - Wild Cat Blues [1923]
11-Clarence Williams's Blue Five - Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home) [1925]
12-Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra - Sugar Foot Stomp [1925]
13-Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - Heebie Jeebies [1926]
14-Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven - Potato Head Blues [1927]
15-Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - West End Blues [1928]
16-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - The Mooche [1928]
17-Oo - Duke Ellington & His Washingtonians - East St. Louis Toodle-OO [1926]
18-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Black Beauty [1928]
19-The Jungle Band - Mood Indigo [1930]
20-Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke - There Ain't No Sweet Man (Worth The Salt Of My Tears) [1928]
21-Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke - Singin' The Blues [1927]
22-Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke - Riverboat Shuffle [1927]
23-Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra - Hotter Than 'Ell [1934]
24-Ethel Waters - I Got Rhythm [1930]
Disc 2
01-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) [1932]
02-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Echoes Of Harlem [1936]
03-Benny Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Moten Swing [1932]
04-Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra - St. Louis Blues [1929]
05-Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra - Ain't Misbehavin' [1929]
06-Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra - For Dancers Only [1937]
07-Benny goodman & His Orchestra - King Porter Stomp [1935]
08-The Benny Goodman Sextet - Rose Room [1939]
09-Benny Goodman Sextet - Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) [1937]
10-Count Basie & His Orchestra - Jumpin' At The Woodside [1938]
11-Count Basie & His Orchestra - Sent For You Yesterday And Here You Come Today [1938]
12-Count Basie's Kansas City Seven - Lester Leaps In [1939]
13-Jones-Smith Incorporated - Oh, Lady, Be Good! [1936]
14-Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Without Your Love [1937]
15-Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit [1939]
16-Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra - God Bless The Child [1941]
17-Art Tatum - Three Little Words [1944]
18-Pete Johnson & Big Joe Turner - Rebecca [1944]
19-Chick Webb & His Orchestra - Harlem Congo [1937]
20-Tisket, A-Tasket - Chick Webb & His Orchestra featuring Ella Fitzgerald - A-Tisket A-Tasket [1938]
21-Django Reinhardt & Le Quartet du Hot Club de France - Shine [1936]
22-Noble Sissle & His Orchestra - Dear Old Southland [1937]
Disc 3
01-Coleman Hawkins - Body And Soul [1939]
02-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Cotton Tail [1940]
03-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Take The ''A'' Train [1941]
04-Artie Shaw & His Orchestra - Begin The Beguine [1938]
05-Glenn Miller & His Orchestra - In The Mood [1939]
06-Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra - Well, Git It! [1942]
07-Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra - Solitude [1941]
08-Gene Krupa & His Orchestra - Drum Boogie [1941]
09-Dizzy Gillespie & His All Star Quintet - Salt Peanuts [1945]
10-Dizzy Gillespie Sextet - Groovin' High [1945]
11-ko - Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers - Ko-Ko [1945]
12-Charlie Parker Quintet - Scrapple From The Apple [1947]
13-Charlie Parker Quintet - Embraceable You [1947]
14-Bud Powell Trio - Get Happy [1950]
15-Thelonious Monk - Epistrophy [1948]
16-Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser [1951]
17-Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra - Manteca [1947]
18-Miles Davis Nonet - Moon Dreams [1950]
19-Charlie Parker - Just Friends [1949]
20-Louis Armstrong - Rockin' Chair [1947]
21-Sarah Vaughan & Her Trio - They Can't Take That Away From Me [1954]
22-Chet Baker & Gerry Mulligan - Walkin' Shoes [1952]
23-Billie Holiday - Fine And Mellow [1957]
Disc 4
01-Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers - Doodlin' [1954]
02-Clifford Brown & Max Roach - I Get A Kick Out Of You [1954]
03-Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas [1956]
04-The Modern Jazz Quartet - Django [1954]
05-The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five [1959]
06-Miles Davis Sextet - So What [1959]
07-John Coltrane - Giant Steps [1959]
08-Cecil Taylor Trio - Rick Kick Shaw [1955]
09-Ornette Coleman - Chronology [1959]
10-Charles Mingus - Original Faubus Fables [1960]
11-John Coltrane Quartet - Acknowledgment (From A Love Supreme) [1964]
Disc 5
01-Louis Armstrong - Hello, Dolly! [1963 and 1964]
02-Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Desafinado [1962]
03-Duke Ellington & John Coltrane - In A Sentimental Mood [1962]
04-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Tourist Point Of View [1966]
05-The Miles Davis Quintet - E.S.P. [1965]
06-Miles Davis - Spanish Key (Single Version) [1969]
07-Weather Report - Birdland [1977]
08-Grover Washington, Jr - Mister Magic [1974]
09-Herbie Hancock - Rockit [1983]
10-M.C. Solaar & Ron Carter - Un Ange En Danger [1994]
11-Dexter Gordon - Tanya [1978]
12-Wynton Marsalis - Soon All Will Know [1986]
13-Cassandra Wilson - Death Letter [1995]
14-The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra - Take The ''A'' Train [1992]
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