Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns 10 - A Masterpiece by Midnight (1961-The Present) (2001)

Synopsis: For the third part of his American Trilogy--following THE CIVIL WAR and BASEBALL--Ken Burns takes on the "that most American of art forms": jazz. The 10-part, 19-hour film begins with the music's... For the third part of his American Trilogy--following THE CIVIL WAR and BASEBALL--Ken Burns takes on the "that most American of art forms": jazz. The 10-part, 19-hour film begins with the music's roots in post-Civil War New Orleans and concludes roughly a century later. The story focuses not only on the personalities and events that helped define the music but also on the social and cultural climate in which they emerged, making KEN BURNS' JAZZ a film about more than just music. The final episode, A MASTERPIECE BY MIDNIGHT (1961-THE PRESENT), covers the music's evolution since 1960. More splintered than ever, jazz is no longer led by any single movement or individual. Armstrong and Ellington continue to pursue their art against the tides of change--Armstrong steadfastly keeping his course, Ellington expanding his already enormous range. But by the '70s, the lives of these two giants have come to an end. Meanwhile, John Coltrane follows a spritual quest through his music while Miles Davis ventures into the murky waters of fusion, the style that will come to dominate the '70s. A few holdouts remain--Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, and a few others--and on their heels comes a new generation in the 1980s, personified by young trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who will inspire a renewed sense of tradition. Certainly the most controversial episode of the series, A MASTERPIECE BY MIDNIGHT compresses roughly 40 years of musical development into less than two hours--in stark contrast to the full three episodes devoted to the swing era (1929-1939). In the end, Ken Burns's series stands as the most comprehensive and ambitious film ever made about jazz, a must-see for any fan of music. [More]

Starring: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis, John Coltrane

Starring: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Branford Marsalis, Stanley Crouch, Joshua Redman, Nat Hentoff

Director: Ken Burns

Director: Ken Burns
Screenwriter: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns

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