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Documentary series · PBS

Jazz

2001 documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns

Verification status: Imported automatically from public Wikidata and Wikipedia records; not yet reviewed by an editor. Fields we could not find are marked “Not verified”.

Research date: 2026-11-08

Synopsis

Jazz is a 2001 television documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns. It was broadcast on PBS in 2001 and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. Its chronological and thematic episodes provided a history of jazz, emphasizing innovative composers and musicians and American history.

Swing musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington are the central figures. Several episodes discussed the later contributions of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to bebop, and of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane to free and cool jazz. Of this 10-part documentary surveying jazz in the years from 1917 to 2001, all but the last episode are devoted to music pre-1961. The series was produced by Florentine Films in cooperation with the BBC and in association with WETA-TV, Washington.

Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Key facts

Official title
Jazz
Alternative titles
Not verified
Original release
2000-01-01 – 2001-01-01
Country of production
United States
Language
English
Genres
documentary film
Seasons
Not verified
Episodes
10
Directors
Ken Burns
Producers
Not verified
Production company
Not verified
Official website
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/jazz/
Official trailer
Not verified

Streaming

Listed service
PBS
Original or licensed
Original — public records list PBS as the original network or distributor (PBS).
Available now in UK
Not yet checked
Available now in Ireland
Not yet checked
Available now in US
Not yet checked
Past availability
Not verified

Episodes, events and timeline

Episode titles, summaries, running times, key events and a timeline have not been researched for this series yet. We'll add them only once they can be checked against reliable sources.

Sources