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For those of you who enjoyed the Ken Burns documentary and/or are
fans of the documentary form, we have come up with a list of
available videos that we feel compliment Burns' epic.
For EARLY JAZZ OVERVIEWS, try BMG's excellent The Story of
Jazz which begins it's story in the 1830's (BMG-$19.99).
Chicago and All That Jazz discusses just that, with focus on
Meade Lux Lewis, Jack Teagarden, Red Allen,
Eddie Condon, Gene Krupa and more (VJC-$24.99).
Shanachie Entertainment has put together 2 fine documentaries about
the jazz era: The Jazz Age discusses America's change in
morals and manners from the end of WWI to the great crash of 1929,
while Storyville-The Naked Dance explores the legendary New
Orleans red light district and the genesis of jazz (both VHS-$19.99;
Storyville also on DVD-$23.99). Sing On-New Orleans Brass
Bands contains the earliest known footage of a Mardi Gras
celebration (1914), as well as footage from the same event in 1928
and 1929. Also featured is footage from 2 jazz funerals of brass band
heroes-Papa Celestin & Alphonse Picou (American
Music-$29.99). Baby Dodds-New Orleans Drumming,
is an in-depth look into the New Orleans drumming greats including
rare footage of the greatest of drummers (American Music-$29.99).
In the days before television, jazz musicians reached their audience
through "SOUNDIES", or short films featuring the hot bands of
the day. There are a number of film collections available, notably,
At the Jazz Band Ball, featuring Louis Armstrong,
Duke Ellington, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith,
etc, from 1925-1933 (Yazoo-$19.99 or DVD-$23.99), or Harlem Roots
Volume 2-the Headliners with performances by Fats Waller
(4), Louis Jordan (10) and Louis Armstrong (5)
(Storyville-$19.99). Swing-Volume One, also from Storyville
Films, includes outtakes from feature films by artists Benny
Goodman, Artie Shaw, Jack Teagarden, Hoagy
Carmichael, Stan Kenton, and Jimmy Dorsey
($19.99).
The award winning DOCUMENTARY A Great Day in Harlem is
now on DVD ($28.99-or VHS-$24.99), as is Jazz on a Summer's
Day, with 1958 Newport festival performances by Louis
Armstrong, Anita O'Day, Thelonious Monk, Mahalia
Jackson, Dinah Washington and Chuck Berry ($28.99),
while Monterey Jazz Festival-40 Legendary Years features
discussions and performances by Dave Brubeck, Dizzy
Gillespie, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong and
Sarah Vaughan. (VHS-$19.99 or DVD-$24.99). The classic TV show
The Sound of Jazz with Billie Holiday, Lester
Young, Ben Webster, Rex Stewart and Roy
Eldridge has never been topped. It is now available on VHS as
Atlantic's Vintage Collection Vol.1 and also includes
performances by Count Basie, Red Allen, Thelonious
Monk, Jimmy Rushing and Jimmy Giuffre (19.99).
Volume 2 features Miles Davis (with John
Coltrane), Ben Webster, Ahmad Jamal and the Gil
Evans Big Band with the Miles Davis quintet (also $19.99 or order
both volumes for just $29.99!)
For those looking for documentaries about ONE ARTIST, there
are many-most notably Lady Day-The Many Faces of Billie
Holiday (Kultur-$19.99 or DVD-$29.99), Satchmo: The Louis
Armstrong Story (Columbia-$19.99 or DVD-$19.99), Memories of
Duke (Atlantic-$19.99) Celebrating Bird about Charlie
Parker (Kultur-$19.99), Saxophone Collosus featuring Sonny
Rollins (WinStar-VHS $19.99) or DVD-$24.99), Art Pepper-Notes from
a Jazz Survivor (Shanachie VHS-$19.99 or DVD-$23.99), Triumph
of an Underdog an award- winning documentary on Charles Mingus
(Shanachie VHS-$19.99 or DVD-$23.99), Last Date covers Eric
Dolphy (Rhapsody-$19.99) or Solo Flight discussing guitar
great Charlie Christian (View-$19.99). You have two John Coltrane
documentaries to choose from: The World According to John
Coltrane (BMG-$19.99) and The Coltrane Legacy
(VAI-$31.99). Blue Note has released a piece on Dexter Gordon
entitled More Than You Know ($19.99), and the indispensible
Straight, No Chaser documents a European tour by Thelonious
Monk (WHV-$14.99 or DVD-$19.99).
If you
prefer straight footage of your favorites in a PERFORMANCE
setting, look no further than Ralph Gleason's short-lived television
series from the early 60's, lovingly restored by Rhino films. Each 30
minute show retails for $14.99. They include individual shows with
performances and interviews by Cannonball Adderley, John
Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, Dizzy
Gillespie, Woody Herman, Gerry Mulligan, Art
Farmer w/ Jim Hall, Jimmy Witherspoon w/ Ben Webster and
Dave Brubeck. There are also DVDs available which combine 3
shows onto one DVD - The Instrumentalists: Basie, Diz
and Trane; and The Vocalists: Carmen McRae, Mel
Torme & Jimmy Rushing; each $29.99, with more due out
this year. Similarly, the Jazz Scene USA TV shows from the
same era, hosted by Oscar Brown Jr., have been released by Shanachie
and include two 30 minute programs on one VHS (19.99) or DVD (23.99).
The pairings are: Cannonball Adderley / Teddy Edwards,
Frank Rosalino / Stan Kenton, Phineas Newborn
Jr. / Jimmy Smith and Shelly Manne / Shorty
Rogers (this one not on DVD, yet...). Also worth mentioning are
Ben Webster in Europe (Rhapsody-$19.99) and Buck Clayton's
All stars-1961 (it's out of print, but we have a few left at
$12.99). At the Tivoli is Benny Goodman in a later day
performance (Kultur-$19.99).
We can also offer the complete 10 volume KEN BURNS'
JAZZ on VHS for $129.99 or the 10 DVD set for $169.99.
These are but a sampling of our VHS/DVD stock. We hope to have a more
complete listing available in catalogue form in the near future, so
ask for one, or if you've got a certain title in mind...we probably
have it.
BLUES FANS: On a different, yet related note...even though it's out
of print, we have a few remaining copies of the classic documentary
on Chicago's Maxwell Street, And This is Free left. And to tie
it in with the excellent new 3 CD And This is Maxwell Street
box from Rooster Blues, we'll offer them as a combo deal for
$40.00 (individually the video is $19.99 and the CD set is
$27.99)
You can order any of these items from the Jazz Record Mart -- call (800)684-3480.
If you're in Chicago, you can also join us for free film screenings in March & April
