Last night on the Charlie Rose Show, Wynton Marsalis and Ken Burns discussed the socio-cultural contributions of the unique American art form known as jazz. Many of you will remember that Burns directed the critically acclaimed PBS series The Civil War and Baseball. The documentary will be a ten part series with initial airing commencing on Jan 8, 2001. Although I'm definetly not a jazz afficianado [although my wife is] and lack the musical credentials like our resident polymath Jerryl Payne, I would suspect that the influence of black church music on the jazz motif is undeniable. In fact, while reading a new book [written by Harvard savants Skip Gates & Cornel West] highlighting influential contributions by black Americans in the 20th century, I learned that the "Father of the Blues", W.C. Handy was the son and grandson of AME preachers. My indistinguished contributions to this art form are limited to once singing like my namesake, Billy Eckstein. Well, if Rev. D. Rogers can speak boldly about her alledged Broadway talents, so can I :-) Check your local listing for the days and times for this PBS series. QED

-- Anonymous, January 09, 2001

Answers

Burn's Civil War was good , I thought .

Then I started watching his 'Baseball'. Baseball was so full of exhaggerations, half-truths and outright lies, I couldn't help but think his C W may have been similarly polluted .

I don't trust Burns anymore .

-- Anonymous, January 09, 2001