Art Blakey: The Jazz Messenger

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2023 · ★ 10

A child's imagination clashes with his strict mother.

Keith Jarrett: Standards II

1986

Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette live in Tokyo. 1. You Don't Know What Love Is 2. With A Song In My Heart 3. When You Wish Upon a Star 4. All Of You 5. Blame It On My Youth 6. Love Letter 7. Georgia On My Mind 8. You And The Night And The Music 9. When I Fall In Love 10. On Green Dolphin Street 11. Woody 'n' You 12. Young And Foolish.

Trollkarlen

1999 · ★ 7.8

In this sober and moody documentary, director Anders Østergaard explores the life - and death - of Swedish wonder kid jazz pianist Jan Johansson through a rain-soaked windshield.

Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool

1994 · ★ 9

A musical documentary accompaniment to the 1994 benefit compilation album concerning AIDS in the African-American community.

One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

2021 · ★ 7

A new concert special honoring the musical legacy and enduring friendship of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. Filmed at Radio City Music Hall, the live concert brings together the two incredible entertainers performing duets and solo songs honoring their shared love of the Great American Songbook.

Black February: Music Is an Open Door

Vipal Monga's first feature-length documentary chronicles an unprecedented series of concerts performed in February 2005 by the legendary jazz composer Lawrence D. Butch Morris. The concerts were in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Conduction, Butch's revolutionary technique for live music-making. Butch put on 44 performances in 28 days with 85 musicians pulled from all across New York's musical community. Along with footage from these remarkable concerts that span a full range of musical styles from big band jazz to funk to electronic and symphonic works. The documentary features some of the leading lights of the New York creative-music community, including Henry Threadgill, JD Allen, Brandon Ross, Graham Haynes, Howard Mandel, and Greg Tate. Although the film provides unique insight into New York's vibrant avant-garde music scene,

Jazzman

2019

A documentary about a life dedicated to jazz, as told by Velibor Pedevski, who has been living among a dynamic New York crowd for over a quarter of a century. Pedevski brings a unique perspective on the historical events surrounding the creative phenomenon of jazz. One of the most prestigious and important of all American cultural exports, jazz has conquered the world

Blue Giant

2023 · ★ 7.8

High school student Dai Miyamoto has his life is turned upside down the day he discovers jazz. Picking up a saxophone and leaving his sleepy hometown for the bustling nightclubs of Tokyo, Dai will find that the life of a professional musician isn’t for the faint of heart, as he must confront what it truly means to be great.

Queens of Jazz: The Joy and Pain of the Jazz Divas

2013

The documentary tracks the diva's difficult progress as she emerges from the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of the big bands of the 30s and 40s, to fill nightclubs and saloons across the US in the 50s and early 60s as a force in her own right. Looking at the lives and careers of six individual singers (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Annie Ross), the film not only talks to those who knew and worked with these queens of jazz, but also to contemporary singers who sit on the shoulders of these trailblazing talents without having to endure the pain and hardship it took for them to make their highly individual voices heard above the prejudice of mid-century America.

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes

2019 · ★ 6.9

Explore the vision behind the iconic American jazz record label. Since 1939, Blue Note artists have been encouraged to push creative boundaries in search of uncompromising expressions. Through current recording sessions, rare archive and conversations with iconic Blue Note artists, the film reveals an intimate perspective of a legacy that continues to be vital in today’s political climate.

Show Girls

1998 · ★ 3.7

Show Girls celebrates Montreal's swinging Black jazz scene from the 1920s to the 1960s, when the city was wide open. Three women who danced in the legendary Black clubs of the day - Rockhead's Paradise, The Terminal, Café St. Michel - share their unforgettable memories of life at the centre of one of the world's hottest jazz spots. From the Roaring Twenties, through the Second World War and on into the golden era of clubs in the fifties and sixities, Show Girls chronicles the lives of Bernice, Tina and Olga - mixing their memories with rarely seen footage of the era.

Oscar Peterson & André Previn

1974

Oscar Peterson and Andre Previn look at some of the styles and personalities involved in the development of piano jazz.