OK, just caught last night's episode, 6, I believe? Excellent stuff. Focused almost exclusively on 40's era Duke Ellington and Charlie "Yardbird" Parker ( plus a little of Billie, Dizzie, and Louis.) Bird and Duke. 2 totally opposite men if ever there were. One glaring factual error. It was stated unequivocally that "The crowd at Carnegie Hall loved Black, Brown, and Beige."
Check the "Duke Ellington Reader." There are numerous newspaper accounts from the morning after which show the audience response was mixed, at best, and the critical response was almost all negative. (To be fair, the "Black Brown and Beige" we all love today is, from my understanding, a much edited, pared down, version of the sprawling original.)
Anyway, this was about the best presentation of Duke Ellington I've seen, and I've seen most of them, I think. It really shows him as the American Stravinsky, a serious composer working in a totally original way. (As for those who think the Count should get equal dap with the Duke... I disagree. Basie had a great band, maybe better than Duke's even, but he himself was not the compositional genius Ellington was, though he was a genius.)
As for the Charlie Parker stuff. Well, psychologists must be as amazed by him as musicians, and I was happy to see they didn't get too into the psychoanalyization (just a few sentences) and got more into the facts. Although the topic of heroin and jazz, well, that could be pretty interesting, and last night's teaser indicated they'd delve into that more tonite. But, what a paradox... that sure didn't sound like the music of a junky, the way, say, "Kind of Blue" might. Those lightning fast lines that seem to drop in unexpected, but totally logical ways.... hell, he's even badder than Coltrane on raw saxophone skill, I think. What would have happened had he lived?
Also, a very moving appearance by Dave Brubeck, which, if you missed, you should make every effort to see. And what up with Buck Clayton's appearance? That played more like a Simpson's gag then serious history. Will Buck Clayton appear in every Ken Burns biography, on every subject whatever?
And, another negative. Why was it necessary to put "NAZI FILM" in gigantic letters when they were rolling the propoganda reel? Is that kind of like a Surgeon General's warning for your mind? I found that somewhat insulting (as a watcher, not as a Nazi.)
Finally, Monk's name was mentioned only tantalizingly. I know they are gonna drop alot about Monk, and alot about Miles, prob'ly tonite, and I'll bet mad money Wynton won't have shit bad to say about either one!
No, the real problem with "Jazz" ihmo is not that it won't get to Don Cherry or or "Kula Se Mama" era Coltrane, but that it probably won't include James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Weather Report, et.al, up to the present day as heirs to the distinguished tradition handed down from Duke.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Jan 24 2001 - 21:23:45 CET