[Dixielandjazz] "Masters of American Music" series reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Masters of American Music (Ovation)
by John Shand
Sydney Morning Herald, March 18, 2011
Despite a similarly threadbare coverage of post-1965 jazz, this 10-DVD boxed set
is a welcome antidote to the poisonous proselytising that mired Ken Burns's "Jazz"
series. With different directors and writers making each episode, the quality is
uneven, however. "Bluesland -- a Portrait in American Music," for instance, is often
more frustrating than pleasurable with its preposterous presenter and too much talking
across the playing. But the episodes on Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk are music
documentaries of the highest order: moving, informative, and packed with spellbinding
performances. Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane
and Ray Charles also get episodes, and then there's a wasted "Story of Jazz" finale.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
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An Irish Man is sitting in the pub with his wife and he says, "I love you."
She asks, "Is that you or the beer talking?"
He replies, "It's me talking to the beer."