Masters of American Music [LE] [5 DVDs] - Naxos Deutschland

"The Story of Jazz - Masters of American Music"
'The Story of Jazz' puts the crown on the Masters of American Music series. As entertaining as it is informative, this is a seamless array of performances, comments and compelling historic insight. This colourful tale of cross-cultural influences that produced a constantly evolving and enduring music is rich 98-minute weave of sounds, rare film clips, stills and interviews. Never before have the filmed comments of so many important jazz artists been assembled for one project, and never before has the history of jazz been told as vividly and with such attention to historic detail.
Laufzeit: 98 Min.

"Lady Day - The Many Faces of Billie Holiday - Masters of American Music"
The Many Faces of Billie Holiday invites viewers to see the many faces of this "dark lady of the sonnets", as one poet called her, and to appreciate her undying art more deeply. Most presentations feature Lady Day as the sad victim of hard times and drugs. The single fact of her life that matters above all others is that she was a great artist who, with Louis Armstrong, invited modern jazz singing. Mining a treasure trove of completely new information, the producers set the record straight - and beautiful. In a voice that is Billie-like in its rasping wiseness and its ring, stage and screen Ruby Dee reads from Holiday's autobiography Lady Sings The Blues.
Laufzeit: 59 Min.

"Celebrating Bird - The Triumph of Charlie Parker - Masters of American Music"
One of the great legends in American music, the cirtuoso saxophonist Charlie Parker - nicknamed Bird - created a new style of jazz and won equal fame as the king of the hipsters. Celebrating Bird - The Triumph of Charlie Parker takes a revealing look at an enigmatic yet endlessly appealing man who soared to the heights of creative freedom but couldn't beat a lifelong addiction to heroin. One of the highlights: Parker's only surviving TV appearance playing Hot House.
Laufzeit: 59 Min.

"Sarah Vaughan - The Divine One - Masters of American Music"
Sarah Vaughan - The Divine One recounts the stellar singer's career, from her beginnings at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, to her debut at the Apollo Theater and her pre-eminence in nightclubs, concert halls and jazz festivals around the world. Packed with insightful interviews - many with Sarah herself - and live performances spanning her entire career, this is a very special portrait of a woman who was professionally unparalleled.
Laufzeit: 56 Min.

"Thelonious Monk - American Composer - Masters of American Music"
Through a more personal and conversational style of documentary, Thelonious Monk - American Composer was the first fully rounded portrait of this terribly misunderstood man and musician. He was the pianistic ringleader of the bebop revolution and, after Duke Ellington, jazz' first major composer. Thelonious Sphere Monk - a most original talent - remained a highly productive musician after more than thirty years of musical activity and continued to be a growing artist, exploring his art and extending his range.
Laufzeit: 59 Min.