Summer of Soul
Just in time for the cancellation of Van Morrison, a music documentary arrives to snatch the title of Greatest Concert Movie from Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz. So could everyone […]
Tag Archives: jazz
Judas and the Black Messiah
In late ’60s Chicago, 19-year-old car thief William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) turns FBI informant to infiltrate the Black Panther Party and take down its charismatic leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). Right […]
Soul
After falling down a manhole, music teacher and jazz pianist Joe (Jamie Foxx) is late for his dream gig, both in terms of being dead and in the sense of […]
Stan Getz: People Time
Stan getz the documentary treatment in Jean-Pierre Larcher’s 1993 tribute to the saxophonist who brought bossa nova to North America. Made 2 years after his death, this French doc describes […]
On iPlayer: Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things
Available on iPlayer for another four days, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things is a 2019 documentary about a woman with considerably better timing than us. Leslie Woodhead’s film […]
Billie
The dispassionate sensationalism of True Crime continues to seep into sensitive cultural environments in this new Billie Holiday documentary. It starts with ominous text introducing the late journalist Linda Kuehl […]
Ronnie’s
The pandemic has been devastating for jazz, both in closing down a predominantly live art form and killing a significant number of legendary musicians. This new documentary spotlights the iconic […]
The Aristocats
I loved Disney’s The Aristocats as a child, though I don’t know if that’s because I loved cats and jazz or if I love cats and jazz because of this […]
My Name Is Albert Ayler
Kasper Collin’s 2005 documentary spotlights the eponymous saxophonist whose freeform playing in the 1960s rocked the jazz world back on its formal heels. People talk about rock bands being crazy […]
Art Blakey: The Jazz Messenger
Two years before his death, this 1988 documentary spotlights one of the world’s greatest drummers and bandleaders. Dick Fontaine and Pat Hartley’s fly-on-the-wall style avoids the usual retrospective approach by […]
Screen Goblin 