this is interesting. maybe i'm not rememberin' this correctly, but i could swear that the buildup to ken burns "Jazz" was much larger than this....but there appears to be a much larger groundswell of blues support after only three nights of the show.

...which is fine by me (the burns thing was disappointing on several levels)

I loved the Ken Burns Jazz series. I am also very much enjoying the Scorsese series. I am a much bigger blues fan than jazz fan (20 years ago the opposite was true) but I found the Burns series more educational (thus far.)

T, you're right about the educational side of it. Scorsese and his minions have made a big deal about the series being "impressionistic not pedantic," and that has certainly been true. The book and the CDs assotiated with the series are much more educational than the films themselves.

Hate to disagree with you Eric, but I find the films in the blues series getting progressively worse. I think the best one was Scorsese's on the first night of the series. The rest seem dull, though I love the music. They're missed opportunities to me.
-- Jan Herman

Disagree away! What would you do differently, how would the opportunity be better fulfilled?

For the interest in the blues to spread to the hoi polloi there need to be tie-ins, Mark. Ken Burns' relationship with Starbucks' Here Music and a special Borders Books pamphlet and CD series kept the material out there. I suspect it may have penetrated to people who never gave jazz a second thought before.

A funny aside in regard to Burns is it was also the jazz films that got him kicked out of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

MD, that is funny! Was he too sympathetic to the artistry of the descendents of the unpaid help?

I think the marketing difference just comes down to Burns himself. Over the course of doing his films he has learned to be a great marketer and merchandiser. I don't he's ever had anything like the volume of products The Blues series has, though.