Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (Score) [Soundtrack]

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (Score) [Soundtrack]

ASIN: B00069YEIY

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The legendary Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion, is the subject of Ken Burns's 2005 PBS documentary, and Wynton Marsalis (a major figure in the filmmaker's 2000 miniseries, Ken Burns's Jazz) turns in a brilliant original score that captures the courage, chaos, and controversy of Johnson's racially charged feats and exploits. Compositions by Jelly Roll Morton and W.C. Handy augment the leader's quasi-Ellingtonian ragtime, blues, dirges, ballads, and stride selections. Also included are four previously released tracks, two from Mr. Jelly Lord and two from Reeltime, the Marsalis score made for (but ultimately not used in) the movie Rosewood. Of course, Marsalis is on his best trumpet behavior, and he shows a real and unacknowledged talent for writing in this idiom. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Tracks:

What Have You Done?
Ghost In The House
Jack Johnson Two-Step
But Deep Down
Love & Hate
High Society
Careless Love
New Orleans Bump
Touble My Soul
Deep Creek
The Johnson 2-Step
Rattlesnake Tail Swing
Weary Blues
Troubles My Soul
Johnson Two-Step
Fire In The Night
Morning Song
I'll Sing My Song
Buddy Bolden's Blues
The Last Bell
We'll Meet Again Someday

Amazon.com

The legendary Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion, is the subject of Ken Burns's 2005 PBS documentary, and Wynton Marsalis (a major figure in the filmmaker's 2000 miniseries, Ken Burns's Jazz) turns in a brilliant original score that captures the courage, chaos, and controversy of Johnson's racially charged feats and exploits. Compositions by Jelly Roll Morton and W.C. Handy augment the leader's quasi-Ellingtonian ragtime, blues, dirges, ballads, and stride selections. Also included are four previously released tracks, two from Mr. Jelly Lord and two from Reeltime, the Marsalis score made for (but ultimately not used in) the movie Rosewood. Of course, Marsalis is on his best trumpet behavior, and he shows a real and unacknowledged talent for writing in this idiom. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Customer Reviews:

mostly a KNOCKOUT!.......2007-03-25

A few of the tracks are kind of difficult to really get into, but there's plenty of rich juicy stuff here, particularly the last track "We'll Meet Again Someday." Marsalis has composed a score that justly deserves to be joined with this truly amazing documentary on a truly amazing man and boxer.

Period Pieces, Not Interpretation.......2006-08-30

With four previously released tracks and two outtakes from the Rosewood, one can casually dismiss the score to the excellent Ken Burns documentary as being unforgivable; a major artist should create - not recreate - music.

But the tracks work as period pieces that Burns obviously wanted. Please remember that Marsalis had worked with Burns previously on Ken Burns's Jazz miniseries and Burns obviously knew what he needed for Unforgivable Blackness.

I wish the liner notes included information penned by Marsalis on why he chose the tracks and how he felt each piece fit the mood in the specific part of the documentary. The purchaser is left with piecing together the "picture" of music with the screen.

While the Miles Davis soundtrack of nearly 40 years ago is vastly superior musically, Marsalis does capture the feel of American popular music in the early 20th century.

Unbelievable Music.......2006-01-24

Wynton Marsalis' 'Unforgivable Blackness' is in its own class of scores that define a time and a place.I think this easily blows away the 'Jack Johnson' fusion take done by Miles Davis.Marsalis,
who wrote most of the score ,which also includes compositions by WC Handy and Jelly Roll Morton,combines an encyclopedic mind for "old"early 20th century classical jazz and makes it all sound "new".

Wynton in his element.......2005-07-13

Wynton is a very talented musician whose ambitions lie primarily with social rather than musical issues. He wants to get jazz through the door of the big cultural institutions of America, like Lincoln Center, schools, museums, etc., to put jazz on an equal social footing with, I guess, "classical" music. That all commendable, but it seems that he and his buddies Crouch and Murray think the way to do this is to turn jazz into stone--develop a rigid, fixed notion of what it's supposed to be, the better to promote it for its "greatness" and "timelessness". They're promoting a marble statue called "jazz", and while this is fine it's part of a culture war and not a living art.

Wynton is really a music educator and curator. He's not a person who will advance the art, despite his musical talent. This soundtrack is perfect for him, since he decided some years back that he was going to try to revive Dixieland. It provides the appropriate predictable "period" color that Ken Burns is so fond of (during his "Civil War" film that lonesome-harmonica-by-the-campfire just never quit), but how could you listen to this as music?

I fully agree with a previous reviewer, the Miles Davis "Jack Johnson" soundtrack is a lot better, because it wasn't trying to be a period costume drama. It's kind of funny, Wynton has spent his entire career trashing Miles, it seems like this is a bit of a symbolic attempt by him to slay the father figure, but all he's created is some mildly interesting background music. Miles' "Jack Johnson" is still the champion!

It is good.......again.......2005-02-25

This is fun music that takes you back in time. Back to..oh..the 1999 release "Reeltime". The soundtrack Wynton wrote for the movie "Rosewood" that was not used. Play track #1 on both albums "Rosewood" on "Reeltime" and "What Have You Done" on "Unforgivable Blackness"...notice a similarity. Try "Rattlesnake Tail Swing" on "Reeltime" and..um.."Rattlesnake Tail Swing" on "Unforgivable Blackness". By now I'm sure you get the point. The music is certainly given a different treatment on both albums but that doesn't change the fact that this music is not original to this soundtrack. I guess it has gotten to the point that Wynton and "his" are now repeating themselves. Noticeably missing from the liner notes are Stanley Crouch and his pontifications (which I actually enjoy), I guess he must have felt that he said it all the first time with "Reeltime". Musically this a very good album but I liked "Reeltime" better. What the hell be a fool and buy both...God knows I did.

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Average customer rating:

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Wynton Marsalis
Manufacturer: Toshiba EMI
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0006M18YY
Release Date: 2005-02-07

Tracks:

What Have You Done?
Ghost in the House
Jack Johnson Two-Step
But Deep Down
Love & Hate
High Society
Careless Love
New Orleans Bump
Trouble My Soul
Deep Creek
Johnson 2-Step
Rattlesnake Tail Swing
Weary Blues
Troubles My Soul
Johnson Two-Step
Fire in the Night
Morning Song
I'll Sing My Song
Buddy Bolden's Blues
Last Bell
We'll Meet Again Someday
Last Beel -
We'll Meet Again Someday

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