Jazz, a film by Ken Burns, is a 10-part, 18-hour documentary series that celebrates America's greatest original art form; a music whose improvisational spirit perfectly reflects the nation that gave it birth. It is the first television series to tell the story of jazz. Beginning with the birth of jazz at the dawn of the 20th century, the film incorporates the wide range of American culture and historical events that interact directly with the music.

Tape 1 - Gumbo - Jazz is born in New Orleans during the 1890's. Its first practitioners are the half-mad cornetist Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, and Sidney Bechet. Tape 2 - Jazz becomes the story of two great cities, Chicago and New York, and two extraordinary artists - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Bandleader Paul Whiteman tries "to make a lady out of jazz" and Fletcher Henderson plays soft, sweet music for white dancers. Tape 3 - The music now places more emphasis on the innovations of supremely gifted individuals. Bessie Smith helps make an industry our of the blues. Bix Beiderbecke, a brilliant cornetist from the American Heartland, illustrates that white musicians, too, can make important contributions to jazz. Tape 4 - America finds itself mired in the Great Depression. Jazz is called upon to lift the spirits of a frightened country. The Swing era is born. Tape 5 - The Great Depression stubbornly refuses to lift, jazz comes as close as it ever has to being America's popular music. It has a new name "swing". Benny Goodman finds himself hailed as the "King of Swing", but has a lot of rivals; Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw. Tape 6 - It's the late 1930's and swing is still a national craze that continues to grow despite the depression. In black dance halls, and roadhouses a new kind of music has been incubating. Pulsing and stomping and suffused with the blues, it is played by men and women seasoned in cutting contests that go on all night. Count Bassie and Lester Young will bring its healing power to the rest of the country. Tape 7 - America enters WWII in 1942, jazz music goes to war too. Bandleaders like Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist and take their music to the men and women of the armed forces overseas. Tape 8 - America achieves a level of growth and prosperity unimaginable just a few years earlier, despite the esculation of the Cold War. Musical tastes are changing. Young people turn to sentimental singers and rhythm and blues. The big bands leave the road. Behop musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker create some of the most thrilling and inventive jazz ever. Tape 9 - Post-war prosperity continues, along with a demand for civil rights. Miles Davis signs with Columbia Records and becomes and an icon for an entire generation of America. Tape 10 - In this final chapter it's the 1960's, and Jazz is in trouble. Young people prefer rock 'n roll. Desperate for work some musicians go into exile overseas. Critics divide the music into antagonistic "schools" When things seem most desperate, Dexter Gordon returns from Europe and proves that there is still an audience for mainstream jazz and a new generation fo musicians emerges, led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.