Jazz: A History of America's Music

Read by LeVar Burton6 cassettes/ 9 hoursContinuing in the tradition of their previous, critically acclaimed collaborations, Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward now bring us the history of the quintessential and first indigenous American music.  This dynamic and powerful narrative is brought to life by the remarkable men and women who have made their mark on the music and left a lasting imprint on our culture.  In words, we meet these larger-than-life personalities, including Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bix Biederbecke, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Sara Vaughan, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, and many more.  Essays by Winton Marsalis, Dan Morgenstern, Gerald Early, Stanley Crouch, and Gary Giddins put the evolution of jazz in historical and cultural context.  Jazz, like the music itself is an exploration of the American experience.