Folk... Showbiz... Art

In the 70 years it's been around jazz has been all three. It grew out of the New Orleans community, became an entertainment commodity and finally produced an avant-garde as uncompromising as its counterpart in the world of 'straight' music.

From time to time cameras have been on hand for a moment of jazz history: in 1929, for example, when Duke Ellington's band was supplying 'jungle music' at the Cotton Club, and in 1932, when Louis Armstrong dressed up and gave an astonishing performance. A 1948 film promoted the Dizzy Gillespie big band, and the legendary Charlie Parker made one brief appearance on celluloid. These and other historic examples have been combined with new material to trace the rapid evolution of jazz and sketch in the social background.

Those appearing include:
Butch Cage and Willie Thomas, The Olympia Brass Band, Louis Armstrong, The Mardi Gras Indians, Alphonse Picou, Lillian Hardin Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Paul Whiteman, Tommy Dorsey, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Lester Young, Norman Granz, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Gunther Schuller, John Dankworth, Dave Brubeck, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp
Commentary spoken by Alan Dobie
Written by Charles Fox, Geoffrey Haydon
(70 years of jazz: page 11)
(Colour)