Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Early jazz TV

In A nostalgia trip to 1957 I posted the entire 8 December 1957 CBS special broadcast titled A Sound of Jazz. This broadcast is in the public domain, as are a number of excellent episodes from 1958's Art Ford Jazz Party broadcasts. Here is a legal source for downloading them: Archive.org, and here are the episodes that you can watch right here to determine if you want to download them:

Art Ford's Jazz Party 18 September 1958

Art Ford's Jazz Party 09 October 1958

Art Ford's Jazz Party 25 December 1958 - A Tribute to Jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden

Whole the above are free, there is another collection of TV broadcasts that are not: Ralph Gleason's series of half-hour programs for the U.S. National Education Television Network titled Jazz Casual. This series ran from 1961 to 1968. Including the pilot there were a total of 31 episodes, but only 28 of them have survived, and are offered in Jazz Casual: The Complete Series

Mark Sabbatini's review is so complete and frank that I do not feel that I can add anything to it. I will, however, provide a few clips to show what this set contains, as well as attest that I hold the set to be a treasure.


Even if the Jazz Casual: The Complete Series is outside your budget, you can still enjoy the Art Ford episodes both free and legally. There are treasures on the web!

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