Today, America's music does what it has always done - bring people together. In American music every aspect of life, ethnicity and culture is merged, mixed and highlighted. The rich diversity of Amreican culture and life is reflected in its lively beat-filled rhythms. American music is the story of the country, a reflection of a nation alive with change, filled with curiosity and led by hope and excitement.

America's music legacy, be it Blues, Jazz, Country, Rock, R&B, or Folk are the songs and artists who have a special power to express what words alone cannot: hopes, fears, dreams, love, hate, anger, pride, aspirations and disappointments. Because songs span the breadth of human experience, they are uniquely able to communicate across time and space the beliefs and ideas held by their composers, performers and listeners.

The blues genre is based on the blues form but possesses other characteristics such as specific lyrics, bass lines and instruments. Blues can be subdivided into several subgenres ranging from country to urban blues that were more or less popular during different periods of the 20th century. Best known are the Delta, Piedmont, Jump and Chicago blues styles. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of...

One of the few complete concert performances of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong , this live recording features the legendary jazz trumpeter and singer on an Australian tour in 1964, when he had already become an international superstar and a living symbol of 20th-century American culture. As a founding father of jazz he revolutionized the world of music and became one of the most influential artists and entertainers ever. The impressive structure of his melodic ideas and the radiant sonorities and flawless technique of his trumpet playing all marked him out as jazz's first soloist of genius. Louis Armstrong set new standards for swing feeling, improvisation, scat singing and command of his instrument, but also for stage presence and entertainment, providing a model for performers in virtually every field of jazz and on every conceivable instrument. With his All Stars sextet, which he formed in the wake of the Second World War, he acted as an ambassador for jazz, restlessly travelling the world. The present documentary was shot at a time when he succeeded in creating a song that was a minor miracle: Hello Dolly even displaced the Beatles from the number-one position in the charts in 1964, a fact of which Armstrong was unaware as he was touring at the time. Armstrong's associates -...

Jazz great William "Count" Basie comes back to life in this rich documentary, which traces the history of the pianist, composer, and bandleader over several decades. Filmmaker Gary Keys juxtaposes a roundtable discussion among old cats from the Count Basie Orchestra with recorded performances, including a cameo performance in the film, Blazing Saddles

Archival clips and a gallery of portraits and snapshots shows the ever-smiling face of a man as vivacious as the grooves he delivers - his good humor suffusing the music and the players going at it all around him, from Lester Young to Ella Fitzgerald.

Geneva 1994: The legendary New Morning club rose from its ashes for the duration of a memorable Jazz Festival. Among the heavyweights in the blockbuster line-up was Bob Berg. No one who heard him there has forgotten the white-hot saxophone, the intensity and the rough lyricism of this very scorsesean former Manhattan taxi driver. Backed superbly by Alvin Queen, Niels Lan Doky and Pierre Boussaguet, Bob gave one of his best concerts - ever ... On that evening, Berg was certainly still "The rebel with the angry saxophone" to whom Miles Davis had asked to join his comeback tour in 1984. But the rebel had learned to control his fiery spirit - fishing off Cape Cod had taught him the meaning of "zen" - and Bob had grown into a fully rounded artist, roaming majestically somewhere between Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz. Our friend Bob was on his way to the top (and to buying a pack of cigarettes) in 2002 when his path crossed that of a skidding truck on an icy mountain road ...

Bonus features:
- In Conversation with Bob Berg (2001)
- Nancy With the Laughing Face (1994)

This video portrays the man behind the myth of James Joseph Brown who was recognized by a plethora of titles, including Soul Brother Number One, Mr. Dynamite, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Minister of The New New Super Heavy Funk, Mr. Please Please Please, The Boss, and the best-known, the Godfather of Soul.

Billy Cobham is the uncontested champion of the drumming world. His incomparable instrumental mastery contributed immensely to putting "fusion" and jazz-rock into orbit. From Horace Silver, Michael and Randy Brecker to John McLaughlin, and right up to the great Miles, almost every important jazz musician of the past three decades is deeply indebted to his genius as an accompanist. The years have left hardly a trace on the dazzling technique and the hard-rocking, funky energy with an R&B edge of "the Man with the Golden Sticks". Together with his Culture Mix sidekicks - onstage at the New Morning club in Paris - Billy Cobham is reinventing and intensifying the miracle of an art form open to younger generations of musicians and music lovers from all horizons.

Join an ecstatic audience at the renowned Harvest Jazz Festival at the Paul Masson Vineyards in California for a double bill concert sure to consume your soul.

Fronting his own quartet, Bobby Hutcherson performs a set that is simply brilliant. Being consumed and overtaken by the crowd's electricity, Bobby delivers a nearly 30-minute improvisational performance! As a stylist whose playing falls between hard pop and post bob, this vibraphonist has worked with all the contemporary jazz greats and delivers a sensational and electric performance!

Influenced by both traditional Brazilian singers and the improvisations of American jazz divas such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Flora Purim demonstrates her musical diversity with unique live performances including an improvisation with Airto Moreira.

Filmed in Chicago and finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is film maker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz". A landmark moment in black film, foreseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Featured are ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black and white.

With the magnificent sets of the Quartier Latin in Giancarlo del Monaco's La Boheme as a backdrop, the Teatro Real presents an invigorating Latin jazz cross-pollination, featuring some of the world's greatest jazz fusionists: the veteran Cuban saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and the creator of the "New Flamenco Sound", Spanish pianist Chano Dominguez. This vibrant tete a tete of two of Latin jazz's most talented musicians offers some of the best Latin jazz of our times. This concert fires up the screen with virtuosic and electrifying performances of some truly multi-dimensional jazz, coloured with salsa, flamenco, tango, bolero, African and other Latin music elements.

Live from St. Thomas's Church - the church for which Bach conceived most of his works - comes a concert performed by the man who introduced Bach to the world of Jazz and vice versa. In 1959, Jacques Loussier hit upon the idea that was to make his international reputation, by combining his interest in jazz with his love of J.S. Bach. He created his very own view of Bach, blending the most beautiful tunes of the Baroque master with an irresistibly swinging sound. Loussier's trio achieved the breakthrough to popular commercial success enjoyed by only a select few jazz musicians. In fifteen years, the group sold over six million albums. On the occasion of Loussier's 70th birthday, the ensemble performed its greatest hits - jazz arrangements of Bach, Debussy, Satie and Ravel - in Bach's "own" church in Leipzig for the first time.

Bonus features:

- Jacques Loussier in Conversation

Ben Sidran has been a major force in the modern day history of jazz and rock and roll having played keyboards with or produced such artists as Steve Miller, Mose Allison, Blue Mitchell, Diana Ross, Boz Scaggs, Phil Upchurch, Tony Williams, Jon Hendricks, Richie Cole and Van Morrison.

It's been a long and varied journey from playing boogie woogie piano as a six year old in Racine, Wisconsin to growing up to play boogie woogie piano around the world and despite the reality that Sidran is better known in Europe and Japan than in America, "a fact of life for most jazz musicians", Ben Sidran is an international superstar.

Only a few times in history has a musician been singled out as the world-calss master of his instrument. Billy Cobham is one of those few artists. For over 30 years, he has received international acclaim as the total consummate drummer.

Billy Cobham's explosive technique powered some of the fusion genre's most important early recordings - including groundbreaking efforts by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra - before he became an accomplished bandleader in his own right. At his best, Cobham harnessed his amazing dexterity into thundering, high-octane hybrids of jazz complexity and rock 'n roll agression. He was capable of subtler, funkiner grooves on the one hand, and awe-inspiring solo improvisations on the other.

For four decades, Chuck's boundless energy, unabashed enthusiasm, and pure joy have characterized his love affair with music and the resulting admiration of his audience.

He joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, assuming the trumpet chair that had belonged to such great players as Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, and Freddie Hubbard, before going solo and receiving a Grammy nomination for Land of Make Believe . His album Feels So Good became a worldwide mega hit thanks to its self-titled single, which features one of the most recognized melodies in the world and he has continued recording and performing music of a standard that has made him an influential contemporary Jazz icon.

Few musicians in the history of jazz have made such a lasting popular and world-wide impression such as pianist George Shearing. Deified in the 1950s by Jack Kerouac in the novel On the Road , Shearing moved from early success in his native Britain to postwar New York where he captured the spirit of successive jazz generations and created a permanent place for himself in the Hall of Fame with his quintet's September in the Rain and his own quintessentially hip compostition Lullaby of Birdland . The artistry of Shearing's leagendary bluesy, "locked-hands" style is as fresh and appealing as ever.

In Shearing we have a jazz artist who has seen and heard it all. His influences range from boogie-woogie to stride to bebop, and he incorporates all of those distinct styles into one that sounds like ... George Shearing. Shearing is one of a handful of jazz legends still giving us the benefit of their experience. Overlook George Shearing at your own risk.

Primarily recognized as an award-winning jazz vibraphonist, Mike Mainieri's equally remarkable talents as producer, arranger and composer have contributed to shaping the cutting-edge in music. Throughout his career, Mike has collaborated with the world's most formidable jazz players, produced numerous albums and discovered a host of innovative, young talent.

At the age of 14, his own jazz trio was touring with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra; by 17 he was playing and arranging for Buddy Rich's sextet - a tenure which continued up until 1962 - and at the age of 18, he won the International Jazz Critic's Award. In 1962, he joined the ground-breaking jazz/rock group Jeremy & The Satyrs and performed with such monumental figures as Frank Zappa, Richie Havens and Jimi Hendrix. From 1969-1972, he was an integral part of the White Elephant Orchestra that created so many musical directions for the decades to follow.

During the late '70's, Mainieri founded the pioneering jazz-fusion group Steps Ahead, delving into contemporary sounds while maintaining experimentation and compositional integrity as a launching-pad for young talent and new musical ideas; and, subsequently, NYC Records. An extension of himself, the independent label is a vehicle for exposing new ideas grounded in the jazz...

One of the great legends in American music, the virtuoso saxophonist Charlie Parker – nicknamed Bird – created a new style of jazz and won equal fame as the king of the hipsters. Celebrating Bird – The Triumph of Charlie Parker is a revealing look at an enigmatic yet endlessly appealing man, who soared to the heights of creative freedom but couldn't beat a lifelong addiction to heroin, and it includes Parker's only surviving TV appearance playing Hot House. With Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Haynes, Jay McShann, Frank Morgan, Chan Parker and others.

Lady Day - The Many Faces of Billie Holiday invites viewers to see the many faces of this "dark lady of the sonnets", as one poet called her, and to appreciate her undying art more deeply. Most presentations feature Lady Day as the sad victim of hard times and drugs. The single fact of her life that matters above all others is that she was a great artist who, with Louis Armstrong, invented modern jazz singing. Mining a treasure trove of completely new information, the producers set the record straight – and beautifully. In a voice that is Billie-like in its rasping wiseness and its ring, stage and screen star Ruby Dee reads from Holiday’s autobiography Lady Sings the Blues .

Masters of American Music is an award-winning television series – as entertaining as it is educational and memorable – that celebrates a pantheon of the greatest innovators in jazz. Individual programmes trace the lives and works of master musicians who defined the course of America's classical music. From its birth in New Orleans to swing, the big bands, bebop, free jazz and beyond – all of it is explored with sensitivity and in unique depth.

Over 80 interviews were filmed in the making of the series. Featured artists come to life through these conversations,...

Sarah Vaughan - The Divine One recounts the stellar singer's career, from her beginnings at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, to her debut at the Apollo Theater and her pre-eminence in nightclubs, concert halls and jazz festivals around the world. Packed with insightful interviews - many with Sarah herself - and live performances spanning her entire career, this is a very special portrait of a woman who was professionally unparalleled.

The Story of Jazz puts the crown on the Masters of American Music series. As entertaining as it is informative, this is a seamless array of performances, comments and compelling historic insight. This colourful tale of cross-cultural influences that produced a constantly evolving and enduring music is a rich 98-minute weave of sounds, rare film clips, stills and interviews. Never before have the filmed comments of so many important jazz artists been assembled for one project, and never before has the history of jazz been told as vividly and with such attention to historic detail.

Masters of American Music is an award-winning television series – as entertaining as it is educational and memorable – that celebrates a pantheon of the greatest innovators in jazz. Individual programmes trace the lives and works of master musicians who defined the course of America's classical music. From its birth in New Orleans to swing, the big bands, bebop, free jazz and beyond – all of it is explored with sensitivity and in unique depth.

Over 80 interviews were filmed in the making of the series. Featured artists come to life through these conversations, exciting rare performances, period footage and vintage photographs meticulously reproduced. Both the video and audio...

Innovative, influential and strongly revered, John Coltrane was the most revolutionary and widely imitated saxophonist in jazz. With previously unseen footage, The World According to John Coltrane celebrates this extraordinary and passionate musician who strove with "relentless curiosity" for a musical ideal and cultivated an almost saintly reputation among listeners and fellow musicians. This film includes extensive performance footage and culminates in a fascinating musical meeting between the Art Ensemble of Chicago saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and dervish musicians in Morocco's Sahara desert in 1990.

Through a more personal and conversational style of documentary,
Thelonious Monk – American Composer was the first fully rounded portrait of this terribly misunderstood man and musician. He was the pianistic ringleader of the bebop revolution and, after Duke Ellington, jazz' first major composer. Thelonious Sphere Monk – a most original talent – remained a highly productive musician after more than thirty years of musical activity and continued to be a growing artist, exploring his art and extending his range.

Masters of American Music is an award-winning television series – as entertaining as it is educational and memorable – that celebrates a pantheon of the greatest innovators in jazz. Individual programmes trace the lives and works of master musicians who defined the course of America's classical music. From its birth in New Orleans to swing, the big bands, bebop, free jazz and beyond – all of it is explored with sensitivity and in unique depth.

Over 80 interviews were filmed in the making of the series. Featured artists come to life through these conversations, exciting rare performances, period footage and vintage photographs meticulously reproduced. Both the video and audio content has been restored and remastered in...

The music documentary Play Your Own Thing provides a comprehensive history of European Jazz. It explores the origins of the US-influenced Jazz clubs after the Second World War, the first steps independent of American jazz and the various changes of direction that have repeatedly occurred in European jazz in the search for that "own voice" that European jazz musicians have helped to form. Featuring the great masters of European jazz such as Chris Barber, Jan Garbarek, Juliette Greco, Stefano Bollani and Till Bronner, to name but a few, the film provides a wealth of styles in Jazz. For his third documentary on jazz, film-maker Julian Benedikt travelled to a wide variety of European countries in search of an all-embracing documentation of European jazz music. His story telling is neither too sophisticated nor does he simply reproduce the known cliches, rather the movie engages its audience with very personal impressions of European jazz, past and present. Accompanied by rarely seen archival footage featuring such influencing American jazz legends as Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, this unique document offers a collection of sparkling musical gems from both sides of the Atlantic.

Musician, composer and recording artist Scott Cossu's background in jazz and rhythm 'n blues, combined with his years of classical training and his study of ethnic music from Sudan, Thailand, China, Romania and Ecuador result in a unique music that has been performed in concerts worldwide and recorded since 1981.

His music shows imagination and taste, with varied meters and tempo and the set with long-time sideman, electric guitarist Van Manakas and Eddie Wood on percussion, exhibits Scott's many departures from the New Age field, with a melodic blend of jazz, classical and ethnic influences.

Composer, photgrapher and filmmaker Phill Niblock's classic of experimental underground filmmaking with a sensational soundtrack by pianist Sun Ra and the members of his Solar Arkestra! Shot in the mid-'60s, when the Arkestra was based in New York, this film was produced using a unique negative process and ultra-tight close-ups on the moving hands and mouths of the musicians.

The result is a virtually abstract music film, mastered from a new print in all its incredibly sharp black and white glory.

Bach meets Jazz! International musicians from the world of jazz and classical music assembled in the market place in Leipzig to celebrate the great master. The line up of performers could hardly be surpassed - it includes world-famous musicians from both genres, including Bobby McFerrin, the Jacques Loussier Trio, the King's Singers, Gil Shaham, the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig all of whom joined forces on this memorable day – exactly 250 years after the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in the city where he lived and composed some of his major works as St. Thomas Cantor. Bach's music is presented in the two-hour recording as extravagant arrangements of the composer's hits and the concert took place under the motto that the music of Bach "is still vital, is still contemporary, and is still very much universal". It proves its point resoundingly in one of the most enjoyable crossover programmes ever recorded.

The double bass is the deepest of all string instruments. Not always upfront but an influential element in classical, world and jazz music.

Miroslav Vitous arrived in New York in 1967 where he quickly involved himself in the music scene playing with many different artists including Charlie Mariano, Bob Broolmeyer, Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, Miles Davis and Chick Corea. In 1970, along with Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, he formed the supergroup Weather Report. Thereafter formed the Miroslav Vitous Group with John Surman, Kenny Kirkland and Jon Christensen before he reunited with Chick Corea and Roy Haynes, and then with Stanley Clark before embarking on an equally successful solo career.

Bonus feature:
- Interview with Miroslav Vitous