Hello all and merry Christmas

Well, a friend of mine has been asked to make a television pilot for a new show, all about jazz, obviously.
It is suppossed to be broadcasted on national tv. His idea is to make it "educational" and "fun" in the same time. We are just worried that if people find the first episode full of old videos and uninteresting facts (to them) they will just avoid watching it... So any ideas about how we can introduce "Jazz" to ordinary people? Note that we are here in Egypt, so many people are not aware what Jazz is...

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Dina

For your first episode you could start with popular music / rock and roll, and look at the question 'Where did this come from?', then you can trace rock and roll back to blues and to the conception of jazz. Just an idea - this way you start with something that people are familiar with eg. looking at the works of Jimi Hendrix.

Please keep me upto date with the progress you make, it sounds a fantastic intiative - I will try and think of some good ideas in return!

Or the other way round - start by looking at the blues and creole marching bands and trace the development of jazz from there, using archival footage, through New Orleans, Swing, Bebop, Modern, focussing on key fugures like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane etc etc and bring it to where it is now. They could also show all the different instruments used in jazz: piano, drums, all the horns, woodwind, strings, percussion; how jazz came to Europe with Sidney Bechet, gypsy jazz with Django Reinhardt and recently the more contemplative Scandinavian jazz from the likes of Jan Garbarek and Tord Gustavsen. She could also question: was jazz a linear phenomenon with a beginning and end or is it still developing in any real sense of the word?

You know your jazz Violinia!

Ordinarily I would have plumped with your idea - chronologically with profiles on leading musicians and instruments. However, one of the defining features in the 'brief' was that the potential viewers know very little about jazz and an impact has to be made in the first episode. Therefore, you could start with rock 'n' roll and then immediately jump back to New Orleans and trace the history of jazz.

Any news on the programme Dina?

Yes, good idea! You could use the tune 'Rock Around the Clock' (Bill Haley) as a prime example - one of the very first pop tunes and it's a 12-bar blues, which was the foundation of a lot of early jazz.

Maybe we could be added as programme writers!

Yoda and Violinia - Thank you very much for your replys...

Well, actually we are still in the primary phase, speaking with the producer and people in charge - you know the red tape phase.

The idea of introducing jazz to people through other gernes of music they know is really great. I do belive lots and lots of the "popular" sorts of music now are a derivative from jazz - in a way or another.

I also received a nice suggestion from harmony2, that we can use youngsters in the show.. I think that would be great as well, of we are going to do some demonstrative demos; like what walking the bass is, what improvisation itself is, etc. I think that would be really encouraging too.

Or turning the whole thing upside down ... could you start with Egyptian jazz and link it back to American?

Could be an interesting angle (and present quite challenge for you, I'd have thought!)

Thank you for your helpful input, Felix ... That is a great idea indeed.


You got it!