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Produced by Lynn Novick and Ken Burns, Jazz follows the progress of both the music and society.

The series, screening over three weekends, shows there is far more to jazz than just the music. It is a whole social phenomenon that reflected and helped shape the 20th century, especially for African Americans on the path to emancipation in what was still a segregated society.

With a compelling, emotional and dramatic combination of archival materials, evocative live cinematography and personal recollections of those involved, Jazz presents detailed and engaging portraits of the greatest figures in jazz.

The series begins in the 1890s in New Orleans where the sounds of marching bands, Italian opera, Caribbean rhythms and minstrel shows fill the streets with a diverse musical culture. Here, African-American musicians create a new music out of these ingredients by mixing ragtime syncopations with the soulful feeling of the blues. Soon after the start of the new century, people are calling it jazz.

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Ken Burns Jazz is now available to buy on DVD here.