American Resource Center
Video collection: Music
1103
Series: American Patchwork
5 parts, each 60 minutes, produced in 1990
In this five-part series from PBS, folklorist Alan Lomax explores America's diverse cultural heritage through song, dance, story, and festival. Lomax travels to various regions in the U.S. and explores their unique history and folk traditions as they are expressed in story and song.
1103-1 Jazz Parades - Feet Don't Fail Me Now
New Orleans, birthplace of American jazz, is the setting for this episode of American Patchwork. Mr. Lomax looks beneath the jaunty surface of New Orleans street parades and traditional jazz. He finds not just joyous music, but echoes of West African traditions and local history, including complex racial tensions between blacks and creoles and whites. This all translates into strutting rhythms, flamboyant costumes, and high-stepping clubs.
1103-2 Cajun Country - Don't Drop the Potato
Folklorist Alan Lomax traces the history of the Cajun people, French-speaking Louisianans, whose rich culture is full of tall tales and zesty Zydeco music. This fascinating program delves deep into the culture of the Cajun people, both white and black, and explores their music, family structures, lifestyles, and unique cultural traditions. This is the most comprehensive program done on Cajun people and contains many remarkable scenes some of which linger in the mind long after viewing.
1103-3 The Land Where the Blues Began
This program explores the Mississippi Delta and the social, cultural, and emotional background of American blues. Alan Lomax interviews artists like Lonnie Pitchford, who plays a homemade one-stringed electric guitar, and singing legend Sam Chatmon. Here blues is at its purest and the roots of American blues are revealed.
1103-4 Appalachian Journey
Viewers travel to the Smoky Mountains to discover how a mix of British and African-American cultures, urban influences, and contact with the Cherokee Indians resulted in the region's unique blend of ballads, legends, handmade toys, and square dancing. Appalachian culture, crafts, and traditions are highlighted.
1103-5 Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old
American Patchwork finishes in fine style with a celebration of the skills and wisdom of some of our country's greatest aging folk artists. The program features 87-year-old balladeer Nimrod Workman, fiddler and bootlegger Tommy Jarrell, and the famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band, among others.
1104
Sensual Nature of Sound - Four Composers
58:13 minutes, produced in 1993
Documentary profiles four well-known New York women composers/performers, Laurie Anderson, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, and Pauline Oliveros. The video was filmed during rehearsals and performances in the United States and abroad.
1105
Mstislav Rostropovich: Artist in Exile
29:55 minutes, produced in 1985
Profile of the life of Soviet-born conductor and renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
1106
ASCAP Celebrates Ira Gershwin
56:47 minutes, produced in 1984
A memorial tribute to the late American lyricist Ira Gershwin, who with his brother George wrote such classics as the opera Porgy and Bess, and the film musical An American in Paris.
1107
These Festivals of Summer
27:25 minutes, produced in 1985
Program features music festivals held throughout the United States each summer.
1108
Carnegie Hall at 100 - A Place of Dreams
57:53 minutes, produced in 1990
A star-studded documentary celebrating the world-famous concert hall's first 100 years. Program features renowned artists who have appeared at Carnegie Hall including Isaac Stern, Zubin Mehta, Van Cliburn, Wynton Marsalis, Lionel Hampton, Marilyn Horne, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Ray Charles, Leontyne Price, Agnes De Mille, Leonard Bernstein, and Colleen Dewhurst.
1109
Jessye Norman, Singer
74:15 minutes, produced in 1986
A portrait of international opera singer Jessye Norman and her career. Jessye Norman's insights into her cultural roots and evolution as a singer make this a moving commentary on an extraordinary career.
1110
Last of the Blue Devils
90 minutes, produced in 1979
A musical celebration in which Count Basie and others of the original "Blue Devils" gather in Kansas City where it all started. Pianist Jay McShann, Charlie Parker, Joe Turner, and other legends perform.
1111
Zydeco Gumbo
28:25 minutes, produced in 1988
The music of Louisiana's black Creole culture comes to life in this program. Mix a bit of Cajun and a dose of Creole accordion and scrub board, and there's the music of Zydeco.
1112
Jazz on Stage
30 minutes, produced in 1986
This classic jam session taped in the 1970s in a Los Angeles nightclub features memorable performances by legendary blues singer, Big Joe Turner, and other talented jazz musicians.
1113
Chicago Blues
48 minutes, produced in 1972
The program shows the roots of the Chicago blues tradition and how this music of the black urban poor was forged. After World War II, a specifically Chicago blues style, variously known as Urban blues, City blues or Northern blues, emerged. Clips of performances by renowned black blues performers are featured, including Muddy Waters, Johnnie Lewis, Junior Wells, and J.B. Hotto. Performers talk about their music and its roots.
1114
Series: American Composers
3 parts, 50-90 minutes each
1114-1 You're the Top - The Cole Porter Story
50 minutes, produced in 1990
The life and the legacy of one of America's most sophisticated songwriters is the subject of this entertaining and informative musical documentary. I Get a Kick Out of You, You're the Top, and Begin the Beguine, are some of the wittiest, funniest and most romantic songs ever written and were all products of Cole Porter's genius.
1114-2 The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington
90 minutes, produced in 1982
Duke Ellington is known throughout the world as a jazz composer, conductor, and performer. His classical compositions are less widely performed. After his death, a selection of his sacred works were performed in a 90-minute concert at London's St. Paul's cathedral, with host Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., soprano Phyllis Hyman, and the St. Paul's men's choir.
1114-3 George Gershwin Remembered
90 minutes, produced in 1987
Produced by WNET-TV and the BBC, this program is the only filmed biography of George Gershwin, one of the most significant and popular of American composers.
1115
Series: American Cultural Masters
4 parts, 60 minutes each, produced in 1993
1115-1 Celebrating Bird
This fascinating portrait of saxophonist Charlie Parker not only focuses on Parker, but also traces the evolution of jazz from the Armstrong era of the 1920s to bebop.
1115-2 Sarah Vaughn: The Divine One
Produced shortly after her death in 1990, this special program recounts Sarah Vaughn's career from her beginnings as a gospel-belting soloist and pianist in a church choir, to her discovery by Billy Eckstine through her preeminence in nightclubs, concert halls, and jazz festivals around the world.
1115-3 Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday
This program is considered by many critics as the best filmed retrospective of Billie Holiday ever made. Using a collage of vintage photos, rare concert footage and interviews, the program delivers a tender and compelling portrait of this singular performer. Holiday's life is traced from the difficult years in Baltimore and New York to her fame as a quintessential jazz vocalist.
1115-4 Satchmo: Louis Armstrong
This program explores the world of a legendary trumpeter, singer, jazz pioneer, and all-round entertainer - a man who was an American cultural ambassador for many years.
1116
Wild Women Don't Have the Blues
58:05 minutes, produced in 1989
The history of the blues and the women who helped create it is the subject of this program. The video recaptures the lives and times of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Ethel Waters, and many other legendary women who made the blues a part of American culture. Dozens of rare, classic renditions of early blues songs are included in the video.
1117
Grover Washington, Jr. in Concert
59:34 minutes, produced in 1981
Multiple Grammy Award-winner, Grover Washington, Jr., blends the best of jazz fusion, R and B, blues, funk, pop, and soul to create his own innovative and distinctive musical voice. One of the hottest stars in jazz pop fusion, backed by an all-star band, Washington is captured in this concert appearance at the very peak of his powers.
1118
Ladies Sing the Blues
60:20 minutes, produced in 1988
Original and rare footage of some of the most memorable blues and jazz singers of this century. The program features Billie Holiday, backed by one of the most extraordinary bands ever formed - Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Benny Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan. The great Bessie Smith in her only film appearance and Dinah Washington, from the stage of the Apollo Theatre, are featured. Ruth Brown, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughn, Lena Horne, and others sing their classics. A brief biographic sketch of each performer is given.
1119
Great Performances: Ellington - The Music Lives On
90 minutes, produced in 1983
A tribute saluting the late Duke Ellington, starring Cicely Tyson, Patti Labelle, Cynthia Gregory, Alvin Ailey, Karen Akers, Kathleen Battle, Carly Simon, Treat Williams, Tammy Grimes, Andrew De Shields, Boys Choir of Harlem, and others.
1121
Series: America's Music
4 parts, 60 minutes each, produced in 1984
1121-1 Folk
This presentation of folk music easily takes the viewer back in time to the 60s and 70s. The performers are: Glenn Yarborough, Odetta, the New Christy Minutestrels, Hoyt Axton, Buffy Saint Marie, and host Theodore Bikel.
1121-2 Dixieland
This program presents some of New Orleans' finest performers including Woody Herman, Clora Bryant, Scotty Plummer, Della Reese, and Al Hirt.
1122
Rubinstein Remembered
58 minutes, produced in 1986
The story of this legendary performer is told through the words of his son, actor, and musician John Rubinstein. Rubinstein's widow and musicians who played with him over the years also reminiscence about the career and life of this brilliant performer. Program is highlighted by film clips of selected performances.
1124
John Coltrane - The Coltrane Legacy
61 minutes, produced in 1986
The legendary master of the saxophone, John Coltrane, is highlighted in this compilation of rare footage taken from various international television specials. Candid interviews with Reggie Workman, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Cobb unravel the complex web of mystery which surrounds Coltrane.
1125
Piano Legends
63 minutes, produced in 1986
Hosted by Chick Corea, Piano Legends explores the work of several renowned jazz pianists as filmed and videotaped over the last 46 years. The program covers the major periods in the progressive development of jazz piano from the rags of "Fats" Waller to the contemporary work of Cecil Taylor.
1127
Sherrill Milnes at Juilliard - An Opera Master Class
75 minutes, produced in 1986
A fascinating glimpse into the classrooms of America's most prestigious school for the performing arts, the Juilliard School of New York City, where renowned Metropolitan Opera singer, Sherrill Milnes, conducts a master class.
1128
Series: Jazz
10 parts, 90-120 minutes each, produced in 2000
In this ten-part series from PBS, the acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns explores jazz from its birth in the 1890s to the beginning of the 21st century as jazz shows no sign of slowing down. It is still alive, changing, and swinging.
1128-1 Gumbo
90 minutes
Jazz is born in New Orleans during the 1890s, at the height of the Jim Crow era. It is a creation of the African-American community but incorporates every kind of music heard in the streets of the country's most cosmopolitan city. Few people beyond its birthplace have a chance to hear jazz until 1917, when a group of white musicians – the Original Dixieland Jazz Band – make the first recording. It outsells every other record made up to that time, and jazz becomes a national craze.
1128-2 The Gift
120 minutes
The story of jazz becomes the story of two great cities, Chicago and New York, and of two extraordinary artists whose lives and music span almost three-quarters of a century – Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.
1128-3 Our Language
120 minutes
As the stock market soars to record heights, jazz is played in dance halls and speakeasies everywhere. The music now places more emphasis on the innovations of supremely gifted individuals: Bessie Smith, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Sidney Bechet.
1128-4 The True Welcome
120 minutes
America finds itself in the worst crisis since the Civil War - in the Great Depression - and jazz is called upon to lift the spirits of a frightened country. Young people go crazy in the 1930s when Goodman's men begin to play the jazz they love, and the Swing era is born.
1128-5 Swing: Pure Pleasure
90 minutes
Jazz comes as close as it has ever come to being America's popular music during the Great Depression. It has a new name – Swing – and for the first time musicians become matinee idols. The program features musicians such as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glen Miller, and Artie Shaw.
1128-6 Swing: The Velocity of Celebration
105 minutes
Swing is still a national craze that keeps on growing despite the Depression but in the middle of the country – in black dance halls, roadhouses, and juke joints – a new kind of music has been incubating. Pulsing, stomping, and suffused with the blues, it is played by men and women seasoned in cutting contests that sometimes go on all night.
1128-7 Dedicated to Chaos
120 minutes
Swing becomes a symbol of democracy at home and bandleaders like Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist and take their music to the men and women of the armed forces overseas as America enters World War II in 1941.
1128-8 Risk
120 minutes
The nation's musical tastes are changing during the Cold War as young people turn to sentimental singers and rhythm and blues. One by one, big bands leave the road. The program features musicians such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Dave Brubeck.
1128-9 The Adventure
120 minutes
Post-war prosperity continues but beneath its placid surface there is a growing demand for civil rights. Louis Armstrong decides to risk his career by speaking out against southern defiance of the Constitution while Miles Davis becomes an icon for an entire generation of Americans.
1128-10 A Masterpiece by Midnight
120 minutes
By the early 1960s, jazz is in trouble. Young people overwhelmingly prefer rock'n'roll over jazz. Desperate for work, some musicians go into exile overseas while some artists mix music with social protest during the Civil Rights struggle. But jazz is not dead as Dexter Gordon proves.
1129
Series: The Blues
7 parts, 79-120 minutes each, produced in 2003
The Blues, executive producer Martin Scorsese, consists of seven feature-length films, by seven different directors, each exploring the blues through their own personal style and perspective.
1129-1 Feel Like Going Home
79 minutes
Directed by Martin Scorsese, this part of the series pays homage to the Delta blues. Musician Corey Harris travels through Mississippi and on to the West Africa, exploring the roots of the music. The film celebrates the early Delta bluesmen through original performances and rare archival footage. Performers in this film include Corey Harris, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Salif Keita, Habib Koite, Taj Mahal, Ali Farka Toure, and others.
1129-2 The Soul of a Man
120 minutes
Written and directed by Wim Wenders, this part of the series explores the lives of his favorite blues artists – Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson, and J.B. Lenoir – in a film that is part history and part personal pilgrimage.
1129-3 The Road to Memphis
89 minutes
Directed by Richard Pearce, this part of the series traces the musical odyssey of blues legend B. B. King in a film that pays tribute to the city that gave birth to a new style of blues.
1129-4 Warming by the Devil's Fire
90 minutes
Written and directed by Charles Burnett, this part of the series presents a tale about a young boy's encounter with his family in Mississippi in the 1950's, and intergenerational tensions between the heavenly strains of gospel and the devilish moans of the blues.
1129-5 Godfathers and Sons
96 minutes
Directed by Marc Levin, this part of the series travels to Chicago with hip-hop legend Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess to explore the heyday of Chicago blues.
1129-6 Red, White, and Blues
93 minutes
This part of the series joins musicians such as Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Tom Jones performing and talking about the music of the early sixties British invasion that reintroduced the blues sound to America.
1129-7 Piano Blues
92 minutes
Directed by piano player and Hollywood director/actor Clint Eastwood, this part of the series explores Eastwood's life long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addition to interviews and performances by such living legends as Pinetop Perkins and Jay McShann as well as Dave Brubeck and Marcia Ball.
1130
Series: Mountain Stage
4 parts, 60 minutes each, produced in 2003
The series combines well-known artists with some of the best new talent in the world. It was produced before a live audience in Charleston, West Virginia.
1130-1 Episode 101
Mountain Stage Blues Special: an all blues program with John Mayall, Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins, and others.
1130-2 Episode 102
Joan Baez with Josh Ritter.
1130-3 Episode 103
Guy Clark with Kelly Willis and Jack Ingraham.
1130-4 Episode 104
Asleep at the Wheel, a dominant force in Western swing for 30 years, progressive bluegrass of Robinella and the Ccstringband, and contemporary folk singer Steve Forbert.