Struggling with "Jazz"

A critique of Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward's documentary "Jazz" is presented. In making the series, Burns decided simply not to worry about the jazz experts, aiming his film instead at the American heartland, people who could learn to love jazz if people would "quit pretending that it's so damn difficult." Ways in which the series constitutes a revision of the basic historical narrative of jazz are explored, along with its implications for teaching jazz history.