Posted by butch thompson on February 16, 2001 at 12:42:19:
Although Burns admitted that he knew nothing about jazz before starting his project, he must have come to believe he had mastered the field. How else can we explain so many of the problems discussed here? If he had allowed musicians and writers to help him edit and assemble, all the factual errors would have been eliminated, the soundtrack would have been continuously appropriate, and I daresay even much of the preachy stuff wouldn't have been there. Instead, he manipulated his materials -- interviews, recordings, film footage -- in the belief that he didn't need any help to get the final story right. It's dangerous when a dilletante loses his humility.