Every month, Cosmik Debris brings you many CD and record reviews, but the writers manage to find a little time for other pursuits, like reading, going to movies and watching videos. That's where Everything Else In Review comes in. Sorry 'bout last month. Everything Else In Review was one of the casualties of the computer virus, but we're back up to speed, so have at it.


DOCUMENTARY SERIES: JAZZ
Directed by Ken Burns (PBS)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes

I was greatly moved by Ken Burns's epic video series on the Civil War several years ago. I also watched a few parts of Baseball, but when I heard his take on Jazz was coming I knew it was something not to be missed. I was not disappointed. In fact I am AMAZED. This documentary will re-ignite the influence of America's only original music.

If you have heard the names of the giants of 20th Century Jazz before, but don't know all that much about them, Ken Burns will fill in all the gaps in your knowledge by showing a holy pantheon of Jazz saints in apostolic progression down through the decades. He advances that Louis Armstrong is the most influential of the 20th Century. After going seeing the whole series it's hard to argue. Hell, who would want to? Satchel Mouth, (who knew that's where "Satchmo" came from?) not only revolutionized the trumpet's place in music, but he also pioneered scat singing and the whole idea of swing arrived with him. Music was never the same. All of his and his descendants' contributions are chronicled by a host of jazzmen and music writers and quite a few songs are analyzed in detail. Foremost among these analysts is Wynton Marsalis, who appears in every episode explaining the musicians' motivations, demonstrating techniques on his trumpet, and generally living out the joy of this music. Through Wynton and the others, Ken Burns will make heroes of Armstrong, Ellington, Goodman, Bird, Trane and a hundred more. You will even start to understand some of the motivation behind Miles Davis. All will come alive because the music is there, playing, as it is being explained. Jazz really sent me back to school; I only wish that all classes were this interesting.

But there is more. In telling the story of America's only native music, Burns also tells the painful story of our history of segregation. He begins with the roots of Jazz in the post Civil War era, all through the slow breakdown the color barriers in America and up to the freedom marchers of the 60's, using stills and early movie footage and of course by playing the music itself. It's made triply more powerful by the stories of the musicians' individual struggles, such as why Louis Armstrong refused to be buried in his home town because of segregation, or how Duke Ellington's band would not be allowed to stay in the same hotel where they performed, how Benny Goodman came to have the first integrated act onstage, how Dave Brubeck's returning band of soldier-musicians endured discrimination after defeating Hitler or in how Billie Holiday came to sing the first song to protest lynchings, "Strange Fruit."

It's the most captivating, stimulating TV I've seen in years. After I see an installment I find myself thinking about it all the next day. This will definitely be shown again on PBS, so if you missed it, BE SURE YOU'RE THERE NEXT TIME, even if it's got pledge breaks throughout. You really owe it to yourself. At 17 plus hours of programming, it's a commitment to watch the whole thing, but it's worth it!


(C) 2000 - Rusty Pipes



BOOK: FOLLOW THE MUSIC
by Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws (FirstMedia)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

Jac Holzman's 1998 history of the record label he founded in 1950 and operated for 23 years is out in a new trade paper edition, and if you missed it in hardback, get it now. If you've got it in hardback, get it anyway, because this time around the book contains a 26 song sampler of Elektra Records "pre-rock" era, and as impressive as the label's rock lineup (including the Doors, Love, the MC5, Lonnie Mack and the Stooges) became, those pre-rock years set the stage for everything that followed, and some of what you'll hear on the sampler won't be found anywhere outside the most exclusive (and pricey) collector's circles.

It's the book, though, that you'll really want to spend quality time with. It's a contemporary conceit that the "indie" label is a rebellious reaction to the corporate consolidation of the record industry (which is, in fact, one of the things that got Holzman out of the business in 1973), but there have always been indies, and they've usually been the home for genre music with less than four star commercial potential. That was certainly the case for folk music in 1950, when Jac Holzman started making records. Early acts included Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand, Alan Arkin, Josh White and Sonny Terry. The first commercial breakthrough (as in, artist who covered the costs of his album) was Theodore Bikel. Bikel, Brand, White and the Limelighters were all mainstays of the great folk music scare, and helped the label survive. The introduction of the highly profitable budget classical line, Nonesuch Records, in 1964, financed expansion. Meanwhile, Holzman was busy signing and recording whoever struck his fancy, including Ed McCurdy, Jean Redpath, Phil Ochs, Koerner, Ray & Glover and Tom Paxton. He also released an international catalog, ranging from the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic to Sasha Polinoff and His Russian Gypsy Orchestra. Clearly, it wasn't all done with an eye to commercial potential.

Still, the bills had to be paid, and Holzman tapped the market for the old masters with releases from the Library of Congress recordings by Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and with a set of records that were as, or more, profitable than the Nonesuch sides - a 13 volume sound effects set. Along the way, Holzman's ear proved as commercially astute as it was musically tasteful. Judy Collins established one of the most enduring careers in folk and pop as an Elektra artist, and acts as diverse as the Doors and Bread found a home on the label. The success of the acts that sold, though, was always used as a means to record acts who might be just as good, perhaps even more important, but weren't likely to make a lot of money, or even recoup costs. Because it was Jac Holzman's label, he could do what he wanted. He was (and is) a tech guy, fascinated with the studio side of the music business, and a music guy. He recorded what he loved, and he recorded it as well as technology would allow. When that wasn't good enough, he was likely to go out and develop the technology he needed.

By the time he sold his interest in the label to the WEA entertainment conglomerate, acts like Carly Simon, Queen, Harry Chapin and Judy Collins were supporting labors of love like Hamilton Camp and the original Nuggets garage rock collection. Holzman, though, found the business demands of the growing label less and less attractive, and the seductive features of his long-planned Hawaiian retreat more and more so. When he finally did sell, it was the end of one era of independent music in America. It wasn't the end of indies, though, or the beginning. It was just one essential chapter in a long story, which is brilliantly told in Follow The Music.


(C) 2000 - Shaun Dale