Watch Jazz | Full Documentary

Gumbo
JAZZ begins in New Orleans, nineteenth century America's most cosmopolitan city, where the sound of marching bands, Italian opera, Caribbean rhythms, and minstrel shows fills the streets with a richly diverse musical culture. Here, in the 1890s, African-American musicians create a new music out of these ingredients by mixing in ragtime syncopations and the soulful feeling of the blues.
Full Length 81m 48s
Share This Page
Gumbo
Full Length
Gumbo
81m 48s
JAZZ begins in New Orleans, nineteenth century America's most cosmopolitan city, where the sound of marching bands, Italia
The Gift
Full Length
The Gift
108m 52s
As the Roaring Twenties accelerate, Paul Whiteman, a white bandleader, sells millions of records playing a sweet, symphoni
Our Language
Full Length
Our Language
106m 40s
As the stock market continues to soar, jazz is everywhere in America, and now, for the first time soloists and singers tak
The True Welcome
Full Length
The True Welcome
118m 57s
In 1929, America enters a decade of economic desperation, as the Stock Market collapses and the Great Depression begins. F
Swing: Pure Pleasure
Full Length
Swing: Pure Pleasure
88m 38s
As the Great Depression drags on, jazz comes as close as it has ever come to being America's popular music
Swing: The Velocity of Celebration
Full Length
Swing: The Velocity of Celebration
99m 45s
As the 1930's come to a close, Swing-mania is still going strong, but some fans are saying success has made the music too
Dedicated to Chaos
Full Length
Dedicated to Chaos
113m 9s
When America enters World War II, jazz is part of the arsenal.
Risk
Full Length
Risk
118m 35s
The postwar years bring America to a level of prosperity unimaginable a decade before, but the Cold War threat of nuclear
The Adventure
Full Length
The Adventure
114m 32s
In the late 1950s, America's postwar prosperity continues, but beneath the surface run currents of change. Families are mo
A Masterpiece by Midnight
Full Length
A Masterpiece by Midnight
108m 32s
During the Sixties, jazz is in trouble. Critics divide the music into "schools" - Dixieland, swing, bebop, hard bop, modal
  • Prev
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next

About the Film

Filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of jazz — the quintessential American art form. The 10-part series follows the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame, from Prohibition-era speakeasies to the wide-open clubs of Kansas City, from the elegant Roseland Ballroom in Times Square, where only whites were allowed to dance, to the more egalitarian Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, where people of all colors mingled.

Six years in the making, Jazz features 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music, 2,400 still photographs and more than 2,000 archival film clips — many rare and never before seen. Third-person voices are provided by Samuel L. Jackson, Delroy Lindo, Derek Jacobi and Harry Connick Jr., among others.

Read A Note from Ken Burns

Own the Film

Jazz Shop Image

Your purchase supports PBS and helps make our programming possible.

Sign up to get updates about the film and future projects from Ken Burns and Florentine Films.
Connect with Us