Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-10-24 16:00:44 +0000
Movie of the Year: 2005
Watch this movie right
HERE
"The shocking-but-false story of America's Blackstronauts ."
NASSA must have been fun to make. I laughed out loud.
Ken Burns = Shit.
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-10-24 16:29:56 +0000
I have now watched it 3 times in a row...
Posted by rladew on 2005-10-25 19:22:37 +0000
I love this short film, too, and Burns's format is fun to parody as it seems to act as if it is all encompassing and all important.
Why is he shit, though?
As unhappy as I was with the glaring omissions of important jazz/improv artists of the past 40 years in 'Jazz' (Ayler/Zorn/ Don cherry, rhassan roland kirk, anthony braxton etc etc etc) It got people interested in the medium of Jazz (or Baseball before that, for that matter).
It would be extremely rare for any one specific documentary, film, album, media, whatever leading one to total knowledge and enlightenment, but it CAN spark interest and set us on a path of learning what happened in history.
_______________________________
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-10-25 23:16:10 +0000
Sorry about the sarcasm. I love Burns.
The Civil War thing was practically perfect, and he drinks Otter Creek beer.
Posted by frame609 on 2005-10-25 23:32:39 +0000
Burns = the man.
Posted by rladew on 2005-10-26 13:21:41 +0000
I love the smell of Sarcasm in the morning.
Being on the zornlistserv for about 10 years (!) now, when 'Jazz' came out, you woul'dve thought Burns had raped everyone on the listserv's mother 10 times a day in weird places or something.
(I spose it didnt help that you had Jazz neocons W. Marsalis and Stanley Crouch defining for everyone what Jazz is sposed to be, but still: can more people knowing about L. armstrong, C. Parker, J. Coltrane, M. Davis etc etc be a bad thing? I think not...)
sorry for my dense impenetrability (is that a word?) during your humor attempt...
_______________________________
Posted by tgl on 2005-10-26 15:41:48 +0000
Burns basically channeled W. Marsalis. It should have been titled "Wynton's View of American Jazz". Burns has a reputation as a historian (unlike Michael Moore), so the expectation is that you're going to get a full history, not someone's one-eyed view.
It doesn't hurt, no, but it could have been much better. I'll guess the Zornistas' anger is fueled by disappointment.
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-10-26 16:04:30 +0000
Love Crouch. Don't like any Marsalis.
I would say that Burns's "Jazz" was good up to episode 10: "Masterpiece by Midnight (1960 to present)". Not only is this a ridiculous swath of music for one episode, it negates my belief that essentially as much happened in Jazz from 1960 to 2003 as happened from 1917 to 1960 (Episodes 2-9)!!!
Posted by rladew on 2005-10-26 17:29:39 +0000
There's no doubt Crouch knows a lot of Jazz history. I used to look forward to reading his columns in Jazztimes, and I would always learn more about pioneers and the historical context of Jazz from Mr. Crouch.
Having said that, though, I've seen his interviews in both 'Jazz' and in the 2004 documentary film/dvd 'Miles Electric: A Different Kind Of Blue' (Netflix pronto BTW) and I personally don't care for his singular vision of what jazz is.
Crouch calls 'Bitches Brew' "...the greatest example of self-violation in the history of art..."
Excuse me? Have you heard of Chris Botti, Kenny G et. al? How can jazz evolve or further develop as an artform if it sticks to a certain set of rules that do not change regardless of social or artistic contexts of the present?
His common judgement of Miles selling out because he started playing with electric guitars, pianos, trumpet effects, etc and not adhereing to a standard method of jazz improvisation seems narrow minded to me. I respect and count on differing opinions on controversial subjects such as this, but fully discounting Miles's electric period is a grave mistake IMHO.
guess I'm not that into "Museum" Jazz. Jazz snob Eat Shit, Indeed.
_______________________________
Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-10-26 17:38:19 +0000
Very true. Was Clinton and P-Funkadelic jazz? Certainly jazz influenced, with Herbie Hancock, "electric" Miles and all.
Listening to AlRock right now (2004 Allston low-ground hip hop). Tons of Herbie samples
Posted by rladew on 2005-10-27 16:53:46 +0000
Clinton, at least in the Funkadelic era of 'Maggotbrain' and the like always struck me as rock, especially with some of the rip-your-face-off electric fuzz guitar approach embraced by Eddie Hazell (listen to the song 'Super Stupid' sometime - damn! I hope R. Stone had the good sense to put him in that obnoxious but fun list of guitarists).
Lose definition of rock here - my ears never picked out improvising, but they could have potatoes in them, I 'spose.
_______________________________
Home and educational video copies of PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: One Nation Under a Groove are unavailable at this time.