Sunday Session: January 3, 2021

Chris Potter

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* So The Star apologized. Now un-write the wrongs to Black KC’s ignored jazz legacy (Kansas City Star)
* ‘Motian in Motion’ (Premiere on 24 January, Doc ‘n Roll Festival/BFI) (London Jazz News)
* Life’s Work: An Interview with Tina Turner (Harvard Business Review)
* Brubeck… on ‘time’ and what Milhaud taught him (interview by Alex Dutilh on France-Musique) (London Jazz News)
* Chris Potter In A ‘Room Of Mirrors’ (DownBeat)
* Seeking justice for Lion Sleeps Tonight composer (BBC)
* 'Brother Robert' Reveals True Story Of Growing Up With Blues Legend Robert Johnson (NPR)
* 'Charlie Brown Christmas' Soundtrack Hits Billboard 200 Top 10 for the First Time (Billboard)
* Jazz Musicians Discover New Possibilities Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (NPR)
* A record 39 holiday songs dominate Billboard Hot 100 chart (Toronto Star)
* Alto Reed, showman saxophonist in Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band, dies at 72 (Royal Oak Daily Tribune)
* John Beasley Reflects on Miles, Herbie, and (of Course) Monk (Jazz Times)
* Frank Kimbrough, Pianist and Composer Who Balanced Mystery with Clarity, Has Died at 64 (WBGO)
* Ken Burns’ Jazz Returns to the Airwaves in 2021 (Jazz Times)
* ‘The Great Gatsby,’ Songs by Ma Rainey and Other Classic Works Will Enter the Public Domain in 2021 (Smithsonian)
* The Blue Whale, Beloved Hub of the Jazz Scene in Los Angeles, Announces Permanent Closure (WBGO)
* In Memoriam 2020: The Musicians We Lost (NPR)
* Eugene Wright, bassist with classic Dave Brubeck Quartet, dies aged 97 (NPR)
* After New Year’s, Times Square will become part of a sound art opera (WHYY)
* James Newton Howard, A Composer Who Can Do It All (NPR)
* Chronology: Memories of Eubie Blake (Jazz Times)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ken Burns' Jazz

This week, celebrate the nation's birthday with a screening of Jazz, the ten-part history of the music directed by famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and originally aired on PBS back in 2001.

Although the series was acclaimed by some as the most comprehensive filmed treatment of jazz history to date, many fans and critics also found plenty to criticize. Many of the negative comments focused on the series' heavy emphasis on older styles, the short shrift given to developments after 1960 - essentially all crammed into the final episode - and the overuse of certain interview subjects as experts, particularly Wynton Marsalis, whose disdain for free jazz, fusion, and other nontraditional styles already was well-known by the time the series was made.

The Wikipedia page for Jazz summarizes a few of the opinions, both pro and con, and you can read a more detailed critique of the series in the article "How Ken Burns Murdered Jazz," by Jeffrey St. Clair, excerpted from his book Serpents in the Garden and published in the magazine Counterpunch.

Though it certainly has a considerable number of flaws and omissions, yr. humble editor believes Jazz the series still is worth watching, as there's a lot of interesting material about the first 50 years of jazz and many of the most important musicians who made that history. Just keep in mind that, hyperbole and authoritative trappings notwithstanding, this is just one person's view of the subject. Perhaps another filmmaker eventually will take up the challenge to do a better job of telling the story of jazz in the 1960s and beyond.

In the meantime, the first episode, "Gumbo," is embedded up above, and after the jump, you can see the other nine, which are titled (in order) "The Gift," "Our Language," "The True Welcome," "Swing: Pure Pleasure," "Swing: The Velocity of Pleasure" (in three parts), "Dedicated to Chaos" (in two parts, and unfortunately missing its middle section), "Risk" (in three parts), "The Adventure" (in two parts), and "A Masterpiece By Midnight."