New jazz series mixes it up on TV

The show is targeting people who might be a little intimidated by jazz.
CHICAGO (AP) -- Ramsey Lewis wrote the tune, he's played it dozens of times, yet a huge grin still spreads across his face as he sits down at the piano to play a blues-tinged version with Robert Cray and Keb' Mo'.
On other days, Lewis backs jazz singers Al Jarreau and Kurt Elling, guitarists Pat Metheney and Jim Hall, or -- in an episode of his new PBS show featuring winners of the 2006 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award -- Tony Bennett, Chick Corea and the late Ray Barretto.
The artists are guests on "Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis," a weekly program that begins its run this weekend on public television (11:30 p.m. Saturday, PBS 45/49). Each show ends with Lewis and his guests playing the theme song he wrote for the series.
The show's creators say it is the first time jazz has been featured on a weekly basis on network television in 40 years. They hope their format will lure not just jazz aficionados, but people who perhaps have found jazz too intimidating to seek out in a club or record store.
"Our intention is to not only attract the hard-core jazz fan, but we're doing it in such a way that it will also be easy to take for those who are not necessarily steeped in the ways of jazz," said Lewis, a Grammy-winning composer and pianist who hosts a syndicated radio program with the same name as the TV show.
Themes of shows
Each of the debut season's 13 episodes begins with Lewis introducing the show's theme-- everything from "Brazilian Jazz" to "The American Songbook" -- followed by a short video segment using archival footage to provide historical perspective.
The guests then join Lewis for an interview, although with the easygoing, assured Lewis, it's more like a conversation. The artists perform individually, then together, before Lewis joins them on piano to close out the 30-minute show.
All but one of the shows were recorded in WTTW's studio in Chicago, Lewis' hometown and where he hosts his radio show. There was an audience of about 50 at each show.
While the editing is not as jumpy as something a viewer would see on MTV, there are plenty of quick cuts, close-ups and dissolves, and it's filmed with numerous high-definition cameras -- all elements that executive producer and creator Larry Rosen said he thought important for attracting viewers used to seeing music performances on television.
But those, he points out, often involve lip synching, while on "Legends of Jazz" the performances are all live and feature combinations of artists who in many cases have never performed together before.
Type of format
As for the show's format, Rosen said he was looking for a combination of elements: a miniversion of Ken Burns' documentaries for the historical segments, the types of intimate, craft-centered discussions held on Bravo's "Inside the Actors Studio," and one-of-a-kind live performances.
"I think that we have been able to come up with great content in terms of conversation and information," Lewis said. "We're trying not to be a documentary, but have a more powerful conversation, and then an 'Oh, by the way, will you play?' sort of thing," Lewis said in an interview in his dressing room before taping the episode entitled "Roots: The Blues."
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