Ken Burns

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Biography (Excerpt)

Ken Burns is an Academy Award–nominated documentary filmmaker who has directed and produced nearly 20 films over the past three decades. Several of his works have been the highest-rated programs in American public television history and have earned him innumerable film and television awards as well as over 20 honorary degrees. Nonesuch has released the soundtracks for two of Burns’s most popular works: Baseball and The Civil War.

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Ken Burns is an Academy Award–nominated documentary filmmaker who has directed and produced nearly 20 films over the past three decades. Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953 and, fittingly, his first documentary deals with the history of the Brooklyn Bridge. Other notable Burns documentaries include The Civil War, Jazz, The National Parks, The War (about World War II), and Baseball. Several of his works have been the highest-rated programs in American public television history and have earned him innumerable film and television awards as well as over 20 honorary degrees.

Nonesuch has released the soundtracks for two of Burns’s most popular works: Baseball and The Civil War. The music for the latter, especially the main theme, “Ashokan Farewell,” has been highly praised and is often mistaken for a Civil War–era tune because of its highly evocative use in the film.

Latest Release

  • September 1, 1994

    The soundtrack to Ken Burns's Baseball features music by Natalie Cole, Dr. John, Bruce Hornsby, Branford  Marsalis, and Carly Simon, as well as vintage recordings, historic radio calls, and the solo piano playing of Jacqueline Schwab. From "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to "Hurrah for the National Game," Schwab's instrumental interludes weave an ongoing emotional thread through the film. 

Releases

News

  • September 3, 2015

    To mark the 25th anniversary of the debut of Ken Burns's acclaimed documentary The Civil War, PBS will rebroadcast the series over five consecutive nights starting Labor Day Monday, September 7. This is the first presentation of a newly restored, high-definition version of the landmark documentary. This is also the first time the film will be seen with the same fidelity and framing as the negative that Burns and his co-cinematographers Allen Moore and Buddy Squires shot more than 25 years ago. The film's soundtrack, released on Nonesuch Records in 1990, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album.

  • April 15, 2013

    To celebrate Jackie Robinson Day—marking the day when, in 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the color barrier in professional baseball—the Nonesuch Journal revisits Natalie Cole's performance of "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?," off the original soundtrack recording to Ken Burns's landmark 1994 documentary Baseball. Listen to the track here.

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About Ken Burns

  • Ken Burns is an Academy Award–nominated documentary filmmaker who has directed and produced nearly 20 films over the past three decades. Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953 and, fittingly, his first documentary deals with the history of the Brooklyn Bridge. Other notable Burns documentaries include The Civil War, Jazz, The National Parks, The War (about World War II), and Baseball. Several of his works have been the highest-rated programs in American public television history and have earned him innumerable film and television awards as well as over 20 honorary degrees.

    Nonesuch has released the soundtracks for two of Burns’s most popular works: Baseball and The Civil War. The music for the latter, especially the main theme, “Ashokan Farewell,” has been highly praised and is often mistaken for a Civil War–era tune because of its highly evocative use in the film.

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