Re: Keith Jarrett on Ken Burns

From: Leslie N. Shill (icehouse@redshift.com)
Date: Sat Feb 10 2001 - 08:20:50 CET

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    Mark,

    on the one hand it has to be "touche" Keith! On the other hand not everyone
    has the trans-universal overview that someone like Keith has of music. Very
    few people, I would wager, living today have the vast depth and latitude
    that someone like Jarrett must have but this series was not necessarily made
    for these few people. To my mind, this series was made for a people from a
    broader and probably less-informed strata of all the people who might be
    engaged by this history.

    I can recall clearly the first time that I heard Keith Jarrett playing solo,
    it was a piece called "Ritooria", if my memory serves me well, off of his
    first solo album on ECM but I really think he was a little harsh in his
    letter to the NY Times.

    you know, I am unable to refute the statements about the heavy-handedness of
    the narration, or the occasional pomposity that arose from the mouths of a
    few of the commentators and I have not tried to do that at any time through
    the unwinding of this thread on the AJ board. I have chosen to overlook for
    the most part that side of this production for the sheer joy of coming into
    contact with a host of brilliant artists and the evolution of the
    extra-ordinary music they have played. For me to have been able to soak up
    loads of information and facts that grabbed me was a juicy learning
    experience. I would venture to say that productions of this size and scope
    would almost inevitably have some flaws and this one certainly did but, they
    are not inordinate flaws from my perspective because of the beauty and
    wonder of the music and the people who play it.

    No amount of over-exuberant verbiage and fluttery adjectives from some
    self-important and self-anointed expert could detract from the connection
    this series provided for me with the music that it portrayed even as
    incomplete as it might have been. I daresay that many thousands of people
    have been spurred into at least considering jazz as something worth knowing
    more about and treasuring as a result. This makes Burns' work valuable in a
    broad context and while it might not prove to be the Bayreuth Tapestry of
    the ethos occupied by jazz on a certain level it works.

    There is no reason whatever why someone should not make an extraordinary
    film about jazz in the last 40 years. There are probably people thinking
    about it even as we exchange our thoughts here. I sure hope they do it and
    before too long!

    One thing I would also like to say is that I have really appreciated some of
    the threads on this board and coming into contact with the people and the
    music that I have connected to here! Thank you to all of you, I love reading
    your views and hearing about the music you love (and hate!), please keep it
    coming!
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Mark Turner <nugroove@pacbell.net>
    To: <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    Sent: Friday, February 09, 2001 9:26 PM
    Subject: FW: Keith Jarrett on Ken Burns

    > FYI...
    >
    > > >From NY Times Arts section
    > >
    > > To the Editor:
    > >
    > > Regarding Ken Burns's (or is it Wynton Marsalis's?) "Jazz": Now that
    > > we've been put through the socioeconomic racial forensics of a
    > > jazz-illiterate historian and a self- imposed jazz expert prone to
    > > sophomoric generalizations and ultraconservative politically correct
    > > (for now) utterances, not to mention a terribly heavy-handed
    > > narration (where every detail takes on the importance of major
    > > revelation) and weepy-eyed nostalgic reveries, can we have some films
    > > about jazz by people who actually know and understand the music
    > > itself and are willing to deal comprehensively with the last 40 years
    > > of this richest of American treasures?
    > >
    > > KEITH JARRETT New York
    > >
    > _____________________
    > Mark Turner
    > nugroove@pacbell.net
    > www.jazzadelica.com
    > _____________________
    >
    >
    >



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