You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Ken Burns Quotes

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...

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 think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what...

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what...

I read cover to cover every jazz publication that I could and in the New...

I read cover to cover every jazz publication that I could and in the New...

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to...

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to...

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...

The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could...

The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could...

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 don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the...

I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the...

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?

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...

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm.

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...

Wynton told us that Miles sold out, just wanted to make more money, just wanted...

Wynton told us that Miles sold out, just wanted to make more money, just wanted...

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 can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with...

I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with...

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...

Like a layer on a pearl, you can't specifically identify the irritant, the moment of...

Like a layer on a pearl, you can't specifically identify the irritant, the moment of...

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

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

In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of...

In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of...