00:00What got me started on a life of crime, which is what my mother thought my youthful interest
00:11in jazz implied, was a case of the measles when I was 15. In those days, the early 1930s,
00:20when you had the measles, they put you in a darkened room and you were not allowed to
00:24read. And so my mother let me have the old family radio, and I lay there wide awake in
00:30the night, picking up those strange sounds in the night. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong,
00:37Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, Fletcher Henderson, and all I knew was what I heard, and what
00:43I heard gave a thrust to my life which has never left it. I have learned more from them
00:49than I did in any classroom, and their art has given me a faith in creativity and in
00:55life itself that no pulpit has ever offered. For millions of readers in the 1950s, 60s,
01:03and 70s, Ralph J. Gleason's personal jazz commentaries were a powerful introduction to America's most
01:10vibrant musical scene, a way of appreciating a challenging new art form through the affectionate
01:16eyes of a true disciple. Co-founder of the Monterey Jazz Festival, co-founder of Rolling Stone
01:23Magazine, contributing writer and editor of Downbeat Magazine, the world's first syndicated
01:30jazz columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle for over a quarter century. Gleason's literary
01:36exploration of jazz had only one purpose. He wanted people to dig the music.
01:41The thing that a modern jazz musician does, which you should really keep in mind when
01:47you see him in concerts or you see him in jazz clubs, is somewhat similar to looking at
01:54a poet standing in the middle of a supermarket and improvising poetry. They are called upon
02:00by the discipline of this art form to go into public places and to spontaneously create music.
02:14Life's a game of chance and you're one of the minor plans.
02:21Unlike a poet, unlike the writer of a novel, unlike a painter, they have no opportunity to take this
02:31product that they have created and reform it and correct the mistakes that they might have made or
02:37change the way in which they approach it. What they do is done for all time right then when they do it.
02:42This is a very unique thing about jazz and it's one of the things that gives it a particular quality
02:52of aliveness that makes it one of the most interesting and vital of all contemporary art forms.
02:57In 1959, Gleason took the unprecedented step of ushering jazz from smoky late night clubs to the blue-gray
03:06flickerings of early television broadcasting, creating, producing and hosting Jazz Casual, the first
03:13nationally televised series devoted entirely to jazz. On a stage left intentionally barren, Gleason invited
03:22his friends to fill the studio space with spontaneous innovations of pure jazz and his friends conjured up a
03:30special magic. John Coltrane offered his only television appearance in North America. Count Basie visited
03:41on his own birthday, improvising with a special hand-picked quartet. Artists agreed to appear on Jazz
03:51Casual who would have otherwise avoided the camera's glare because Gleason allowed them the freedom to play what
03:57they wanted for as long as they wanted. Mixing the music with insight and celebration.
04:11There are very few people that I consider qualified to judge whether someone is a jazz player or a jazz
04:18singer. Now you happen to be one of the few people that I feel is fully qualified. You could cancel off the show.
04:24Am I a jazz singer? Mel. Am I a jazz singer? You are to me, but I've got a very good friend who thinks you aren't.
04:32When Sunny gets blue, she breathes a sigh of sadness, like the wind that stirs the trees.
04:42If you'd like to buy my wares, follow me and climb the stairs. Love forces.
05:04What better definition of a jazz singer could we possibly have than Carmen McRae?
05:16Earl Father Hines is really the father of jazz piano and one of the most important musicians who has
05:22ever played this music. And today you really can't play jazz piano without playing a little bit of Earl
05:27Father Hines. Thanks for that wonderful introduction. Well, you know, I mean it and you deserve it and we all know this.
05:37Of the original 31 episodes of Jazz Casual produced, 28 still survive, having been locked away in a vault
05:45since their first and only broadcast some three decades ago. Now digitally remastered,
05:51these rare treasures capture the pure essence of the jazz experience. By bringing together these
05:59glimpses of the great creative artists from the earliest right down to the most modern jazz,
06:05I would like to assist in placing all of them on the broad cultural stage in their proper perspective.
06:11This is a dedication to those musicians for all the great moments, the magnificent highs of listening.
06:18For all I have learned from them, my true teachers, and above all for their clear instruction in how to live.
06:27Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual Series. More than two dozen historic masterpiece performances
06:35from the titans of modern jazz. Unseen in over 30 years and available for the first time ever on home video.
06:49The Ralph J. Gleason Jazz Casual Series. Only on Rhino Home Video.
07:00The Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual Series
07:06detalizingото
