Well, for someone like me who didn't grow up with this music, this series is a godsend. Though I've long enjoyed isolated bits of jazz, I've never had any mental map of how the music evolved and how various legendary figures related to one another. At least now I'm getting insights that will help guide my future study and enjoyment of this music. As for Burns not offering enough complete pieces, this series is very long already, and the partial selections offered do provide incentive to go out and get the full recording. For once, I don't mind at all getting drawn into America's great merchandising maw and have already acquired three CDs by the notorious Sidney Bechet. And for those who want to avoid the corruptions of the marketplace, there's always the glorious web. Here, for instance, is a nifty site I just ran across with complete stride piano MIDI cuts: http://members.aol.com/midimusic/stride.html
Carl _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com