The Story Of Jazz video - a predecessor to Ken Burns' Jazz?

[Scott Yanow]

In doing research for a book, today I finally watched my video copy of The Story Of Jazz, which was released as one of the films in a series called Masters Of American Music. The 100 minute documentary was fascinating in how similar it was to Ken Burns' Jazz even though it came out in 1993. Chris Albertson was one of its main writers so maybe he could reminisce about it.

Just as with Ken Burns' Jazz, it used excerpts from a lot of mostly familiar clips, featured quite a few talking heads (Wynton Marsalis was the only younger musician featured) and had a definite point of view with an overemphasis on Louis Armstrong (though not as extreme as Ken Burns). Very few white musicians were mentioned other than Bix Beiderbecke. An hour passed before the film reached the bebop era and, from its depiction of swing, one would have thought that Count Basie had launched the swing era; Benny Goodman and the other white bandleaders were dismissed quickly. There was virtually no mention of West Coast jazz and none of revival dixieland or bossa-nova. After spending a lot of time on the swing era and bebop, the 1950s zoomed by very quickly. One heard a bit about late 1950s Miles Davis and the John Coltrane Quartet then, after running through the avant-garde (mostly Ornette Coleman) in a few minutes and dismissing fusion with a brief mention of Miles Davis, there was virtually nothing on the 1970s, 80s or 90s other than a mention of the "comeback" of acoustic jazz.

There were a few differences from Burns, with much less time spent on the civil rights struggle, no Stanley Crouch and a slightly more optimistic view of jazz's future. There were some mistakes along the way including the claim about 1924 that "At that time there was no greater arranger than Fletcher Henderson" (Don Redman actually wrote virtually all of the charts for Henderson's band at the time) and the identification of Jimmy Dorsey as Tommy Dorsey.

But what struck me most was that this film managed to get the Ken Burns point of view across in 100 minutes rather than the 19 hours it took Burns, even though Burns had probably not even thought of putting together a jazz documentary at the time. Very strange. Sort of like discovering a band sounding just like the John Coltrane Quartet in 1950!

Don't think I'll be watching it a second time though.

[Enforcer]

Well whoever was responsible for the decision, kudos to him/her for *not* including 1980s/90s Miles Davis. I mean, it's a no-brainer if there ever was one, but failure to leave that period out would ruin the integrity of any serious presentation of the history of jazz.

Kind of like a chronology of the great chefs that leaves out Ronald McDonald. Of course.

Larry

[patricia]

There is a documentary in the pipeline, from Canada, which interests me, regarding the history of Jazz. It's a collage, with narrative, about the jazz greats of the last fifty years or so and looks like a winner, if it can get a distributer, which is not easy to do, as anyone who has tried, knows.
It was composed and produced by a friend of mine, Robert Gibbons, in Toronto.
Robert is shopping it, for release, in both Canada and the U.S., so far. He was here, in Calgary, a few months ago and was very excited about this new project. He produced and directed a fabulous doc. on Jack Teagarden, "It's Time For 'T' ", some years ago, which was shown on Canadian TV, and is still looking for a distributer in the U.S. I have a copy of it and it is fabulous.

CHRIS: Dan has a copy of the Teagarden film, [which is extraordinary, I think] as well as the material Robert was accumulating on the doc he was doing on Johnnie Ray, so you might want to ask him about it, as well as the material he has for a documentary he was putting together on Johnnie Ray, which fell into the abyss, for now. I sent copies of both the videos to him, a couple of years ago and he had positive things to say about them, particularly the Teagarden film

[Scott Yanow]

Thanks for all the info Chris, and the interesting reviews. And I did think the part on the very beginnings of jazz was good.

The main thing that surprised me, other than that it largely left out anything much after 1970 and that Benny Goodman was skipped over (which makes little sense), is that there were so many similarities to Ken Burns' Jazz. He of course had nothing to do with this documentary, so he must have seen it and "adopted" most of its ideas.

I didn't realize that, in addition to not knowing the subject matter, Burns largely copied everything. I've seen no mention of The Story Of Jazz in any of the reviews of Burns, so this whole thing is a bit surprising to me.

[Scott Yanow]

Jimmy Dorsey is shown for a second signing autographs. That is taken from a late 1930s short and the narrator says Tommy Dorsey. No big deal. The main factual mistake is that when Louis Armstrong's decision to join Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra is discussed, the narrator says that "At the time, there was no greater arranger than Fletcher Henderson." Of course Don Redman did nearly all of Henderson's charts during the era and Henderson didn't develop into a major writer until the early 1930s.

However compared to the Burns fiasco, this is just minor nit-picking.

That would be great if there were a Bessie Smith film eventually, and if it were based on your book. I've always thought that was in the top ten of jazz biographies.

[Scott Dolan]

"....bossa nova never seemed very important to jazz, so I didn't even think ofbringing that in. Afro-Cuban was more important, IMO." Chris A


I was just having this EXACT same discussion with another writer today. Chris, I could not agree with you more on this subject. But is there any way that you could expand on this just a little bit since you have more knowledge on this subject? I would really appreciate what someone who knows more about it would say.

[patricia]

Originally posted by Chris A


Patricia,

It might interest you to know that I just got off the phone after speaking to a Canadian film company that wants to make a Bessie Smith movie (the new edition of my book is sparking renewed interest).

Sounds like a great opportunity for you. You're probably familiar with the talented documentary film-makers, in Canada. That genre has long been highly developed here.
I would consider that a good way to bring Bessie to a larger audience. Go for it!!!

[Scott Dolan]

"Scott, I'm glad that we agree on something" - Chris A


Well, as long as we don't talk politics I'm sure we'll always have at least a few things in common.

I appreciate your response. The guy I was talking to about Bossa Nova pretty much felt that it was one of the most integral parts of Jazz and he could not understand why I didn't like it. But I'm with you in a certain respect. I really had never even considerd Bossa Nova to BE Jazz. Not that I mean that to be disrespectful of the music itself, but it seemed a more tame version of Salsa than it did Jazz.

And yes, Dizzy's foray into Afro-Cuban was much more important in my mind as well. Hell, it was just better period. I especially enjoyed his work with Machito's big band.

But thanks for the good word, I'm glad I'm not the only to think this way.

[Salvador Dali Lama]

Yeah I dont consider Bossa to be Jazz either. But almost every straight ahead jazz group I've played with also plays Bossa tunes.

whatever is whatever, but Getz/Gilberto is some damn good music.

[patricia]

Originally posted by Chris A
A documentary would be fine, but this is about a feature film.

Do you mean a docu-drama along the lines of "Lady Sings The Blues" or "'round Midnight"?
I would think, but what do I know, that a doc would be the natural way to tell Bessie's story. However, I know that there is a wider audience for a feature film, so that's good, as long as Bessie doesn't get lost.

[Tanager]

Hell, Scott, I might even agree with you on this one. I also agree with Salvador, however, that Getz/Gilberto is some pretty outstanding stuff, whatever importance it may or may not have had in the history of jazz. And there have been some pretty excellent bossa reworkings that are also kickass jazz - Joe Henderson's Double Rainbow is one.

But as an overall statement, I don't disagree that Afro-cuban had a bigger impact on jazz than Bossa - but I've also read that Jazz had a great influence on Afro-cuban than vice-versa - any comments from y'all?

[patricia]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris A
[B]Neither Lady Sings the Blues nor 'Round Midnight were docu-dramas, Patricia. Both were 90% fiction. There has beeen a lot of talk, over the years, about making a Bessie movie based on my book, and a lot of money spent just thinking about it. One project spent $75,000 on a draft screenplay by Melvin Van Peeples--it was so terrible, so off the mark that the producers immediately dropped him and turned to Horton Foote, whom they paid $150,000. Columbia pictures was not too pleased with Horton's scipt, either (it was too old-fashioned in structure), so they turned to me (in desperation, I presume). Unfortunately, I had to do it on spec, because the script budget had been exhausted. I did, Columbia liked, but then came thr so-called Spiegelman scandal--it almost put Columbia Pictures out of business, and it killed the Bessie project. According to Columbia, $100,000 had already been spent (not including the script money!) The padding was incredible.

There was also a project that had Cicely Tyson lined up for the lead, and another--even more ridiculous--that centered around Dionne Warwick! One producer was so aanxious to beat someone else out for the rights to my book that he called and offered me a part in the movie! Ridiculous, but, for a while, I did quite well just selling options.

I think the days of awful, shallow Hollywood biopix is over, although some are still made for cable. Today, there are a number of very talented, very cool filmmakers who see things from a fresh perspective--so I am actually glad that the film never was made.

I got a call from Suzanne DePasse (sp?)one night, she was interested in having Motown do a Bessie film. I said that I had to be frank and tell her how awful and embarrassing I thought her Lady Sings the Blues was. "Oh, I know," she said. "We don't do that anymore."

While I think Bessie's life is well suited for a documentary, she was an extraordinary person whose personal life and career could come to life beautifully in the hands of a good screenwriter and director.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You're right, of course, about "Lady......" and 'round Midnight, which was not presented as a biography of anyone, but was reminiscent of Bird. I know that a "fact-based" feature film would reach a larger audience and bring Bessie to them. However, unless the screenwriter is familiar with your bio and other available material, to write, this may very well be just another fairytale and do Bessie more harm than good. I really believe in the documentary format, in the right hands and am always suspicious of a star-laden docudrama, in which real events are manipulated to suit the vision of the film-makers and to show the star, rather than the subject being brought to the screen.
However, I must emphasise that you are right, if all the people involved are true to Bessie, this could be great.

[Bill Barton]

Chris,

Was this project based on Marshall Stearns' book, or is the identical title coincidental?

[Nate Dorward]

Originally posted by patricia
... 'round Midnight, which was not presented as a biography of anyone, but was reminiscent of Bird.

Been years since I saw the film but wasn't it loosely based on the careers of Bud Powell (mostly) and (to a lesser extent) Lester Young?

[clinthopson]

"'Round Mignight," IMHO, is one of the best jazz based films.

Dexter Gordon's performance has always touched me with what I believe is an unaffected screen presence. Plus the film doesn't dumb down the artist's life.

Of course the music is superb.

[clinthopson]

Was "The Gig" the one where the guys go to a gig in some Catskills resort?

If it is, I agree with you Chris, it was a beauty.