Ken Burns

This was written in response to an open letter circulated by Bob Brookmeyer concerning Jazz Education and Ken Burns' Jazz.

I don't know where to start with Bob's piece, so I won't. Only to say that I admire most of his ideas on teaching etc.and
disagree with a few others. But as far as Ken Burn's "Jazz" goes I will herewith vent:

I'm glad that this show is causing a lot of belated attention to our art form (but why, oh why does it have
to be TV that makes people sit up and pay notice?) I'm also impressed with the photos and film footage Ken
Burns found. However, like Bob, I'm very disappointed in the choice of Marsalis- I heard him a couple of
years ago late night on a (sometimes militant) black radio station when I guess he thought he was
preaching to the choir and I just couldn't believe the venomous statements coming out of his mouth! HE is
a racist- as prejudiced and intractable as those he condemns.

Speaking of race, I'm disturbed by the constant one-note focus on race in this the show. I do not at all
mean to disparage the enormous contributions that African-Americans made to this art form-but they did
NOT invent improvisation as Ken Burns (and others) would have you believe. Improvisation has been
around since time immemorial in virtually every world culture- including western classical music. Mozart,
Bach, Beethoven and many, many others were highly skilled improvisers. Jazz is a FUSION of cultural
streams, black, white, creole, caribbean etc. it features the element of improvisation and consequently belongs
to humanity rather than any one particular group. Again I mean no disrespect to the contributions of
African-Americans nor do I belittle the heartless suffering they have endured to this day but why can't we
focus on the music itself and the fact that the fusion that it represents bridges the racial divide, not widens
it?

The thing that galls me the most, however, is the treatment of the music itself. The film is wall to wall music
with someone TALKING OVER IT nearly the whole time. Could there be any greater disrespect for our
music? Music drones constantly in the background under the narrator, unattributed and mostly unheard.
Rather than talking about an artist first then featuring a performance that allows us to focus on the merits of
the given artist, narration and performance duke it out to the death and the biggest loser is the viewer/listener. After
a two hour show, I am numb from the constant musical wallpaper and yet I feel cheated that I missed
some undoubtedly great performances from great artists. Only a non-musician could have made a film like this!
It's like someone at the front table sitting there telling all his friends how great your band is, applauding with
gusto and yet never hearing a single note. Oy!

On balance, I'm glad the film was made rather than not made, but I have to agree with Bob here: "Ken
Burns -- you f#*@ed up!"

I'll shut up now.