“Legends of Jazz” to Return Next Year

By I Jun. 8, 2007

The television series “Legends of Jazz” will be back on PBS for another season next spring, host Ramsey Lewis told DownBeat Thursday.

The show, which made history in its April 2006 debut as the first jazz-based network TV series in more than 40 years, has picked up rave reviews from media critics and viewers alike.

“All the viewers were 99.99 percent in awe,” Lewis said. ” The only suggestion we got from viewers was that it was too short. Just as they were digging in, the show was over.” To rectify that, next year’s series will consist of six one-hour shows rather than 13 half-hour shows. Lewis and the production crew will tape the episodes this fall, and they are scheduled to air in the spring of 2008.

“A year later, I can look back now and have 20/20 vision that clearly tells me we’re on the right track, that the excitement that we had on the show that I shared with the musicians was real,” Lewis said. “Everybody is happy with what happened, and we’re just moving forward.”