Jazz

Award-winning American director Ken Burns's latest documentary played to enormous critical acclaim in the States earlier this year attracting 12 million viewers.

Narrated by Keith David, "Jazz" is the history of an American art form, the history of a country and its people. Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who introduces "Gumbo", the first episode in the series, believes that jazz is the only art form created by Americans. Along with a host of jazz players and experts, he charts the fascinating genesis of jazz from a myriad of influences and cultures to its birth in the back-streets of New Orleans.

Jazz begins in New Orleans, 19th-century America's most cosmopolitan city, where the sound of marching bands, Italian opera, Caribbean rhythms and minstrel shows fill the streets with a richly diverse musical culture. Here, in the 1890s, African-American musicians create a new music out of these ingredients by mixing in ragtime and the soulful feeling of the blues.

The first programme, "Gumbo", introduces some of the pioneers of this revolutionary art form: cornetist Buddy Bolden, who may have been the first man to play jazz; clarinet prodigy Sidney Becher whose fiery sound matched his explosive personality; and trumpet virtuoso Freddie Keppard who turned down a chance to win national fame for fear others would steal the secrets of his art.

The early Jazz players travel the country in the years before the First World War. But few audiences have a chance to hear the new music until 1917 when a group of white musicians from New Orleans arrive in New York to make the first Jazz recording. They call themselves the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and, within weeks, their record becomes an unexpected smash hit, catapulting them to stardom and marking the beginning of the Jazz Age.

The second edition is called "The Gift". The first jazz record goes on sale in 1917 and jazz becomes the addictive soundtrack of the modern world - a world of prohibition, speakeasies, flappers and new wealth. This is the Jazz Age and everyone is jazz-crazy.

The Gift focuses on the tale of two great American cities, Chicago and New York, and two exceptional jazz artists, whose careers spanned three-quarters of a century: Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

Armstrong, a fatherless waif who grew up on the mean streets of New Orleans, develops his great gift - his unparalleled musical genius - with the help of King Oliver, the city's top cornet-player. In 1922, he follows King Oliver to Chicago, where Armstrong's transcendent sound and exhilarating rhythms inspire a new generation of musicians, white and black, to join the world of jazz.

Meanwhile, Ellington, raised in middle-class comfort by parents who told him that he was "blessed," outgrows the society music he learned to play in Washington DC and heads for Harlem. There he forms a band to create a music all of his own - hot, blues-drenched and infused with the growls of his new trumpet player, Bubber Miley.

As the Roaring Twenties accelerate, Paul Whiteman, a white bandleader, sells millions of records playing sweet, symphonic jazz, while Fletcher Henderson, a black bandleader, packs the dance floor at the whites-only Roseland Ballroom with his innovative big band arrangements. Then, in 1924, Whiteman introduces George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue and Henderson brings Louis Armstrong to New York, to add his improvisational brilliance to the band's new sound. Soon, Armstrong is showing the whole world how to swing.

As the stock market continues to soar, jazz is everywhere in America. Now, for the first time, soloists and singers take centre stage, transforming the music with their distinctive voices and the unique stories they have to tell.

In "Our Language", viewers meet Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, whose songs ease the pains of life for millions of black Americans and help black entrepreneurs create a new recording industry around the blues; Bix Beiderbecke, the first great white jazz star, who inspires others with solos of unparalleled lyric grace, only to destroy himself with alcohol at the age of 28; and the brilliant son of Jewish immigrants, Benny Goodman, for whom jazz offers an escape from the ghetto and a chance to achieve his dreams.

In New York, Duke Ellington plays in Harlem's most celebrated night-spot, the Cotton Club. Ellington's compositions blend the individual musical "voices" of his band members in a way no one has imagined before. He gets the break of a lifetime when radio carries his music into homes across the country, bringing him national fame.

In Chicago, to where he returns to find himself billed as "The World's Greatest Trumpet Player," Louis Armstrong combines the soloist's and vocalist's arts to create scat in singing. He then charts the future of jazz in a series of small group recordings which culminates in his masterpiece, West End Blues. Called "the most perfect three minutes of music" ever created, Armstrong's astonishing performance lifts jazz to the level of high art, where his genius stands alone.

In 1929, America enters a decade of economic desperation, as the stock market collapses and the Great Depression begins. Factories fall silent, farms fall into decay and a quarter of the nation's workforce is jobless. In these dark times, jazz is called upon to lift the spirits of a frightened country, and finds itself poised for a decade of explosive growth.

The fourth episode in Ken Burns's series, jazz The True Welcome, sees New York as America's jazz capital. On Broadway, Louis Armstrong revolutionises the art of American popular song and displays a flair for showmanship that makes him one of the nation's top entertainers. In Harlem, Chick Webb pioneers his own Big Band sound at the Savoy Ballroom, where black and white dancers shake the floor with a new dance called the Lindy Hop.

But it is Duke Ellington who takes jazz "beyond category", composing hit tunes with a new sophistication that has critics comparing him to Stravinsky. Now the nation's best-known black bandleader, Ellington tours in his own private railcar, transcending stereotypes with an elegant personal style that disarms prejudice and inspires racial pride.

Meanwhile, Benny Goodman makes a name for himself, broadcasting big band jazz nationwide, based on Fletcher Henderson's arrangements. In 1935, Goodman takes his band on tour but, in most towns, people ask for the old, familiar tunes. Then, finally, at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, the dancers go wild when they hear Goodman's Big Band beat. By the end of the night, the Swing Era has begun.

The legendary Billie Holiday and heart-throb bandleaders Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller are under the spotlight as Ken Burns's jazz series continues. Black and white musicians swing side-by-side onstage. As the Great Depression drags on, jazz comes as close as it has ever come to being America's popular music, providing entertainment and escape for people down on their luck. It has a new name now -swing - and, for millions of young fans, it will be the defining music of their generation.

Suddenly, jazz bandleaders are the new matinee idols, with Benny Goodman hailed as the "King of Swing," while teenagers jitterbug just as hard to the music of his rivalsTommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford and Glenn Miller. But the spirit of swing isn't limited to the dance floor. In New York, Billie Holiday emerges from a tragic childhood to begin her career as the greatest of all female jazz singers. And in Chicago, Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson prove that, despite segregation, there is room in jazz for great black and white musicians to swing side-by-side on stage.

At Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, however, there is room for only one King of Swing, and on May 11,1937, Benny Goodman travels uptown for a showdown with Chick Webb. It's billed as "The Music Battle Of The Century," and more than 4,000 dancers crowd the floor to urge both champions on. But when it's over, there's no doubt who wears the crown.

In it's third week Jazz continues its story as the Depression deepens. The Thirties come to a close and, although swing-mania is still going strong, some fans complain that success has made the music too predictable. Their ears are tuned to a new sound - pulsing, suffused with the blues. It's the Kansas City sound of Count Basie's band and, when he brings his music to New York, it quickly re-ignites the spirit of swing, and gives the entire nation a "reason for living".

This episode introduces the iconic instrument of jazz - the saxophone - and two of its masters, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Soon Basie's lead saxophonist, Young, challenges Hawkins for supremacy, matching the old saxmaster's muscular sound with a lighter laid-back style of his own. Young teams with Billie Holiday for a series of recordings revealing them as musical soul mates.

By the decade's end, Chick Webb's swing gains a national audience by taking a chance on a teenage singer named Ella Fitzgerald, who achieves the fame of which he dreamed. While many female musicians continue to face widespread discrimination from male critics and colleagues, Ella emerges as the first lady of jazz.

Duke Ellington is hailed as a hero in Europe, amid anxious preparations for war and a few weeks after that war begins. Coleman Hawkins, the old master, startles the world with a glimpse of what jazz will become, with an innovative improvisation on the old standard, Body And Soul.

"Swinging With Change" sees the Depression end at the dawn of the Forties while Americans prepare for the inevitability of war. Underground and after hours, in a Harlem club called Minton's Playhouse, a small band of young musicians, led by trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie and brilliant saxophonist Charlie Parker, discover a new way of playing - fast, intricate, exhilarating, and sometimes chaotic. A three-year recording ban keeps their music off the airwaves - still saturated with the sounds of swing.

When America finally enters the war in 1941, big band music is part of the arsenal, boosting morale both at home and overseas. Some band leaders enlist, while others contribute to the war effort by touring army bases. Duke Ellington reinvigorates his band, discovers a true partner the gifted young composer Billy Strayhorn - and creates some of his most memorable recordings.

"In Dedicated To Chaos", jazz is banned by the Nazis in wartorn Europe but the great musicians like gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt continue to play, turning the music into a symbol of freedom, and a weapon of resistance. For many black Americans, however, the sound has a hollow ring. Segregated at home and in uniform, they find themselves fighting for liberties that their own country denies them and wondering what jazz really means to musicians who play together on the battlefield.

Authorities padlock the Savoy Ballroom to keep black servicemen off its integrated dance floor, and military police patrol Swing Street, breaking up fist fights sparked by prejudice and pride. :Meanwhile, Duke Ellington premieres his most ambitious work ever, the symphonic suite toneportrait of black life in America, Black, Brown And Beige.

Louis Jordan popularises a music that will come to be called "rhythm and blues" in part two of Dedicated To Chaos. Soon after, the atom bomb forces Japan's surrender, and Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie enter the studio to create an explosion of their own. The tune is called Ko-Ko, the sound will soon be called bebop and, once Americans hear it, jazz will never be the same.

Starting on Monday 18th June the following is a round up of what will be shown throughout the week.

Monday:

Jazz continues its story as the Depression deepens. The Thirties come to a close and, although swing-mania is still going strong, some fans complain that success has made the music too predictable. Their ears are tuned to a new sound - pulsing, suffused with the blues. It's the Kansas City sound of Count Basie's band and, when he brings his music to New York, it quickly re-ignites the spirit of swing, and gives the entire nation a "reason for living".

This episode introduces the iconic instrument of jazz - the saxophone - and two of its masters, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Soon Basie's lead saxophonist, Young, challenges Hawkins for supremacy, matching the old saxmaster's muscular sound with a lighter laid-back style of his own. Young teams with Billie Holiday for a series of recordings revealing them as musical soul mates.

By the decade's end, Chick Webb's swing gains a national audience by taking a chance on a teenage singer named Ella Fitzgerald, who achieves the fame of which he dreamed. While many female musicians continue to face widespread discrimination from male critics and colleagues, Ella emerges as the first lady of jazz.

Duke Ellington is hailed as a hero in Europe, amid anxious preparations for war and a few weeks after that war begins. Coleman Hawkins, the old master, startles the world with a glimpse of what jazz will become, with an innovative improvisation on the old standard, Body And Soul.

Tuesday:

Swinging With Change sees the Depression end at the dawn of the Forties while Americans prepare for the inevitability of war. Underground and after hours, in a Harlem club called Minton's Playhouse, a small band of young musicians, led by trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie and brilliant saxophonist Charlie Parker, discover a new way of playing - fast, intricate, exhilarating, and sometimes chaotic. A three-year recording ban keeps their music off the airwaves - still saturated with the sounds of swing.

When America finally enters the war in 1941, big band music is part of the arsenal, boosting morale both at home and overseas. Some band leaders enlist, while others contribute to the war effort by touring army bases. Duke Ellington reinvigorates his band, discovers a true partner the gifted young composer Billy Strayhorn - and creates some of his most memorable recordings.

Wednesday:

In Dedicated To Chaos, jazz is banned by the Nazis in wartorn Europe but the great musicians like gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt continue to play, turning the music into a symbol of freedom, and a weapon of resistance. For many black Americans, however, the sound has a hollow ring. Segregated at home and in uniform, they find themselves fighting for liberties that their own country denies them and wondering what jazz really means to musicians who play together on the battlefield.

Authorities padlock the Savoy Ballroom to keep black servicemen off its integrated dance floor, and military police patrol Swing Street, breaking up fist fights sparked by prejudice and pride. :Meanwhile, Duke Ellington premieres his most ambitious work ever, the symphonic suite toneportrait of black life in America, Black, Brown And Beige.

Thursday:

Louis Jordan popularises a music that will come to be called "rhythm and blues" in part two of Dedicated To Chaos. Soon after, the atom bomb forces Japan's surrender, and Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie enter the studio to create an explosion of their own. The tune is called Ko-Ko, the sound will soon be called bebop and, once Americans hear it, jazz will never be the same.