Do something that will last and be beautiful. It doesn't have to be a bridge-or a symphony or book or a business. It could be the look in the eye of a child you raise or a simple garden you tend. Do something that will last and be beautiful. Ken Burns More Quotes by Ken Burns More Quotes From Ken Burns In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of them I've asked, 'Who are we as Americans? Ken Burns film made I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You can't work on a film for six years without being your own toughest critic. So you can't really be distracted by the expectations based on your previous performance. Ken Burns expectations years thinking I think we continually need to understand how important an event the war was - how defining, how central to who we are. Everything that came before it led up to it, and everything of importance to this country - at least up to 1940 - was a consequence of it. Even now there's an echo of the war, however faint, in almost everyone's life. Ken Burns war country thinking I never, ever want to apologize for a film. If it's bad I'll say it's my fault. And that's what I can say so far in all the films that I've done, that if you don't like it, it's entirely my fault. Ken Burns apology done want A jazz beat is a dynamic changing rhythm. Ken Burns rhythm beats jazz History's just been made for sale to an inside deal. Ken Burns deals made I have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see what it tells us about who we are as a people. I think that jazz is a spectacularly accurate model of democracy and a kind of look into our redemptive future possibilities. Ken Burns democracy people thinking I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that its extremely predictable, its a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again and theres a certain musical virtuosity involved in it. Ken Burns rocks play thinking One of the things I really like about Ford's films is how there is always a focus on the way characters live, and not just the male heroes. Ken Burns firefighter hero character Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America. Ken Burns jazz music america Like a layer on a pearl, you can't specifically identify the irritant, the moment of the irritant, but at the end of the day, you know you have a pearl. Ken Burns layers the-end-of-the-day pearls To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain. Ken Burns choices artist mean I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start editing, doing many, many versions. The music shapes the film as we edit so it has an organic relationship to the content. Ken Burns records shapes editing I read cover to cover every jazz publication that I could and in the New York Times, every single day reading their jazz reviews even though I didn't put them in the films. I wanted to know what is going on. Ken Burns jazz reading new-york I have made all my films for my children with the exception of my first film because my oldest daughter wasn't born when I was making the film about the Brooklyn Bridge. Ken Burns brooklyn-bridge daughter children The flame is not out, but it is flickering. Ken Burns flames We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz? Ken Burns hard-times jazz understanding There is no communication in this world except between equals. Ken Burns communication this-world world You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of other approaches. Ken Burns six blind years I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the facts in my scripts. Ken Burns research use way
