Jazz Odyssey: Jazz on a Summer’s Day
One of the earliest concert movies, Jazz on a Summer’s Day captures the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and proves that audience members obnoxiously photographing concerts that are being filmed is not a […]
Tag Archives: jazz
Jazz Odyssey: Round Midnight
This 1986 drama stars saxophone giant Dexter Gordon as a drug-addled saxophonist in 1950s Paris. Named after a Thelonious Monk composition, based on the life of Bud Powell and featuring […]
Jazz Odyssey: Bird
This is a 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker (Forest Whitaker) directed by one-liner comedian and arch nemesis of Tim Westwood, Clint Eastwood. Bird fits in the Elephant Man/Gandhi category of […]
Jazz Odyssey: The Miles Davis Story
Produced for the 10th anniversary of his death, this 2001 documentary recalls the many milestones in the life and works of trumpeter Miles Davis, the jazziest jazz ever got and […]
Jazz Odyssey: Odds Against Tomorrow
Three desperate New Yorkers (Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan and Ed Begley) plan a bank job in Robert Wise’s 1959 film noir. If you’re wondering what this heist movie is doing […]
Jazz Odyssey: All Night Long
Welcome to Jazz Odyssey, a week of jazz-related film reviews because this blog isn’t nearly alienating enough as it is. No spoilers but these include a thriller, a documentary, a […]
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Stanley Nelson’s new documentary explores the life and works of Miles Davis, his musical contributions and various relationships. They didn’t call him ‘the man with the horn’ for nothing. Inevitably […]
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
Michael Rapaport (Gary from Friends) dissects the rap rapport of hip-hop’s greatest quartet in this 2011 documentary. Although it’s weird hearing Phoebe’s cop boyfriend’s voice between Tribe verses, it’s Rapaport’s […]
Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes
What do Cannonball Adderley, Thelonious Monk and Chick Corea have in common? Apart from all having ridiculously cool names, they all recorded on Blue Note Records, the greatest jazz label […]
I Called Him Morgan
Not to be confused with My Name is Albert Ayler or He Named Me Malala, I Called Him Morgan is a 2016 documentary about jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen. […]
Screen Goblin 