Jim L'Hommedieu wrote:
>
> Who's criticizing him? I'm with you! I wish he had been my music teacher
> in middle school. Wow! If I had had Wynton teaching flutophone lessons, I
> would never have been a computer nerd.
>From one of the CSN lists:
Craig wrote:
I'll check it out, but am very leery of the film's "executive consultant",
Messr. Marsalis.
Today's Daily Herald, a north suburban Chicago newspaper had an interesting
take on Marsalis:
...At best Burns makes a dubious decision to emphasize art and
entertainment equally. Thus, a Louis Armstrong, who was both, is exalted
over an equally brilliant but thornier, more difficult and less
compromising artist like Charlie Parker.
...Likewise, the choice of Wynton Marsalis as the key expert on the music
limits the documentary's scope, especially later on. Understand, Marsalis
is a likeable presence, and he certainly knows his stuff, but in defining
jazz he makes a disconcerting choice of words in Monday's debut: "It's an
art form that can give us a painless way of understanding ourselves."
Why painless? Not to turn jazz into sadomasochism, but I'd say the
utter absence of pain is what makes much of Marsalis' music mere academic
exercises, which is what is aggravating when he is granted top billing in
that final episode over more impassioned players like Murray or Carter.
