I had a chance to see the first episode the other night (I don't have a TV) and while there were things to grumble about I was impressed, as I always am, by how elegantly Ken Burns puts these things together. The best thing, which he somehow seems to have stumbled on, is to let the audience work with the still photographs. Virtually every other filmmaker would be terrified to show a battered picture of Buddy Bolden; but by lingering on it, it makes you part of the mystery. As ever, it is is the slow lingering parts and not the fast parts that make TV magic, in spite of all the trends in the other direction.

The most incredible piece of film was the 3 second clip in the New Orleans market with an old woman WEARING A BRETON HEADDRESS!!!!!!!It told you more about New Orleans history than 2 hours of narrative. I was completely stunned. The whole series was worth it for that 3 seconds. Incredible.

yours, Peter T.