R.E.M.

Rap music has articulated a black aesthetic that is influencing pop culture around the world. But does it also promote violence, misogyny, and crime? This program featuring rap master Melle Mel describes the history of rap and hip-hop from its roots in earlier oral and musical traditions to its full flowering in the mid-1990s. Commentary by Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, rap’s early innovators; music critic Nelson George, author of hiphopamerica; radical jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron; movie star and rapper Ice Cube; former gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg; members of Public Enemy, Arrested Development, and the jazz/hip-hop fusion group UFO; and others speak out about the urban African-American experience, civil rights, social responsibility, and other pressing topics. Clips from music videos provide a visual perspective on the genre. Some images and lyrics may be objectionable.

Wynton Marsalis, “possibly the best trumpeter of all times” (Maurice André) is the most famous member of a musical family from New Orleans. He started his career as a Wunderkind and had his breakthrough with Art Blakey, however also pursuing a great career in the classical music fi eld. As jazz musician he uses his profound knowledge of his instrument’s tradition in all styles from Oldtime jazz to Postbop and combines it with his virtuosity and fl awless technique. His own compositions enrich the jazz genre greatly, and his work as Artistic Manager of the New York Lincoln Center’s Jazz Department give jazz music a greater public audience. In this beautifully fi lmed documentary by Susan Shaw from 1996 Marsalis takes the viewer on a journey to New York, to his home town of New Orleans and to his rehearsal studios, where he and his assembled band of musicians record the album Blood on the Fields.