5. Swing: Pure Pleasure - 1935-1937 (2001)
1935 was the year that swing became the most popular music in the country and that the king of swing, Benny Goodman, became a matinee idol. Americans, stifled by the Depression, seemed determined to dance their troubles away. "Swing: Pure Pleasure" follows the continuing careers of Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Armstrong, and the discovery of Billie Holiday.
Release date: 2001-01-17
User rating:
8 / 10
4 votes
Season number: 1
Episode number: 5
Runtime: 89 minutes
Director: Ken Burns
Cast
Keith David
as Narrator (voice)
Louis Armstrong
as Self (archive footage)
Duke Ellington
as Self (archive footage)
Benny Goodman
as Self (archive footage)
Artie Shaw
as Self (archive footage)
Billie Holiday
as Self (archive footage)
Glenn Miller
as Self (archive footage)
Dave Brubeck
as Self (archive footage)
John Coltrane
as Self (archive footage)
Art Blakey
as Self (archive footage)
Charles Mingus
as Self (archive footage)
Wynton Marsalis
as Self
Miles Davis
as Self (archive footage)
Stanley Crouch
as Self
Rest of the cast - click here to expand
Sidney Bechet - Self (archive footage), Art Tatum - Self (archive footage), Lester Young - Self (archive footage)