One of the chief marvels of the civil war series, of course, was bringing the old photographs to life with the narration and commentaries. I would hope that when he would get into the 20th century heart of this jazz documentary, Burns would let more of the music speak for itself with the film footage that's available. As this series progresses, it's becoming clearer that the narration over pictures in the civil war series wasn't only because there was no film footage then, but because it is the Burns documentary style. I'm enjoying this interpretive history, but I wish that Burns would sometimes just lay back and let us see a complete tune or song on film run its course. We should be given the opportunity to sit back and watch a few things uninterrupted. The Louis Armstrong on stage footage is available in complete form, uninterrupted, on a video collection of early jazz shorts called "At The Jazz Band Ball."

-chanteyranger