Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Ken Burns Quotes

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz?

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence...

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence...

I enjoy total creative control right now. Nobody tells me to make it longer, shorter,...

I enjoy total creative control right now. Nobody tells me to make it longer, shorter,...

In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more...

In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more...

History's just been made for sale to an inside deal.

History's just been made for sale to an inside deal.

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment...

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment...

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You...

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You...

I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely...

I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely...

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of jazz.

By its very nature, no one person can ever be the center of jazz.

I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were...

I subscribe to William Faulkner's' view that history is not just about what we were...

You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you...

You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you...

One of the things I really like about Ford's films is how there is always...

One of the things I really like about Ford's films is how there is always...

I treat the photograph as a work of great complexity in which you can find...

I treat the photograph as a work of great complexity in which you can find...

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you...

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you...

When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has...

When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has...

I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start...

I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start...

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of...

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of...

The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed.

The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed.

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have...

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have...

I have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see...

I have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see...