Jazz movies

[nado64]

Just a thread for making a census about jazz movies.

• The Jazz Singer - 1927 - by Alan Crosland - with Al Jolson #1
• Minnie the Moocher - 1932 - by Dave Fleischer - with Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra #6
• Swing! - 1938 - by Oscar Micheaux #23
• Hellzapoppin' - 1941 - H.C. Potter - Featured Frankie Manning and Whitie's Lindy Hoppers #6
• Reet, Petite and Gone -1947 - by William Forest Crouch - with Louis Jordan #23
• Pete Kelly's blues - 1955 - by Jack Webb - with Avec Jack Webb, Janet Leigh #8
• The Man with the Golden Arm - 1955 - by Otto Preminger - with Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak #14
• The Benny Goodman Story - 1956 - by Valentine Davies - w/ Steve Allen #25
• Five Pennies - 1959 - by Melville Shavelson - starring Danny Kayle #35
• Jazz on a Summer's Day - 1959 - by Bert Stern - with Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, and more #7
• Paris Blues - 1961 - by Martin Ritt - with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier #37
• All Night Long - 1963 - by Basil Dearden - with Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell and Betsy Blair #8
• A Man Called Adam - 1966 - by Leo Penn - feat. Samis Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong #31
• Sweet Love, Bitter - 1967 - by Herbert Danska - with Jerry Archer, Dick Gregory #32
• Lady sings the Blues - 1972 - by Sidney J. Furie - with Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams #2
• Louis Armstrong - Chicago Style - 1976 - by Lee Philips #25
• Sven Klang's Combo - 1976 - by Stellan Olsson #4
• Talmage Farlow - 1981 - by Lorenzo DeStefano - with Tal Farlow, George Benson, Lenny Breau, and more #10
• 'Round Midnight - 1986 - by Bertrand Tavernier - with François cluzet, Dexter Gordon, a lot of guest stars. #1
• Bird - 1987 - by Clint Eastwood - with Forest Whitaker #1
• Let's Get Lost - 1988 - by Bruce Weber - with Chet Baker #1
• Mo' Better Blues - 1990 - by Spike Lee - with Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, Spike Lee #12
• The Fabulous Baker Boys - 1990 - by Steve Kloves - with Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges and Michelle Pfeiffer #33
• Dingo - 1991 - by Rolf de Heer - feat. Miles Davis #26
• Lush Life - 1993 - by Michael Elias - with Forest Whitaker, Jeff Goldblum #2
• Just Friend - 1994 - by Marc-Henri Wajnberg #1
• A Great Day in Harlem - 1995 - by Jean Bach - with Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton #10
• Kansas City - 1996 - by Robert Altman - with Michael Murphy, Miranda Richardson #2
• Sweet and Lowdown - 1999 - by Woody Allen - with Sean Penn #5
• Straight No Chaser - 2000 - by Charlotte Zwerin - with Thelonious Monk, Nica De Koenigswarter #10
• Jazz - 2001 - by Ken Burns #16
• Swing - 2002 - By Tony Gatlif - feat. Tchavolo Schmitt #1
• Barney Wilen, the Rest of Your Life - 2006 - by Sephane Sinde - with Barney Wilen #1
• Crazy (Hank Garland Story) - 2007 - by Rick Bieber - with Waylon Payne, Ali Larter #13
• Martino Unstrung - 2008 - by Ian Knox - feat. Pat Martino #30
• The Jazz Baroness - 2009 - by Hannah Rothschild - with Duchess of Devonshire, Chico Hamilton and Roy Haynes #3
• Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense - 2010 - by Lars Larson, Michael Rivoira - with Ravi Coltrane, Bill Frisell,... #11
• Tremé (tv series) - 2010 - by David Simon and Eric Overmyer #17

with famous jazz soundtracks :

• Sait-on jamais ? (No Sun in Venice) - 1957 - by Roger Vadim, scored by John Lewis #35
• Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows) -1958 - by Louis Malle, score by Miles Davis #9
• Anatomy of a Murder - 1959 - by Otto Preminger, music by Duke Ellington #8
• Odds Against Tomorrow - 1959 - by Robert Wise, scored by John Lewis #35
• Mental Cruelty - 1960 - by ?, music by George Gruntz #20
• Bullitt - 1969 - by Peter Yates, music by Lalo Schifrin #1
• A Tribute to Jack Johnson - 1970 - by Bill Clayton, music by Miles Davis. #33

close to jazz : Ray #15, Naked Lunch#21, Lost Highway #1, last tango in paris#23 Johnny Staccato(tv series) #27

[randalljazz]

lush life--
Lush Life (TV 1993) - IMDb

lady sings the blues

kansas city (outstanding musicians playing other outstanding musicians)--
Kansas City (1996) - IMDb

[barrymclark]

The Jazz Baroness

*more of a documentary... but I am into documentaries.

[Subfeeder]

Sven Klang's Combo
"Thought by many to be one of the best ever films about the jazz environment, this follows the travails of the members of an amateur dance band that for a moment becomes a jazz group when a real jazzman, saxophonist Lars Nilsson (Boustedt) joins them, bringing with him (the year is 1958) the tang of Charlie Parker. Slowly, however, the group retreats from the inspiring but fearful world Lars has introduced them to - here, for once, the clichéd association of drugs and jazz works well - leaving Lars listening to the music in his head but stumbling through life. Ultimately, the film holds to the romantic view of creativity, but its virtues lie in director Olsson's careful (often very funny) observation of its characters and their worlds."
Also, one of the few films ever to acknowledge the "car spotting" phenomenon

[Dad3353]

Woody Allen's 'Sweet and Lowdown', with Sean Penn...

[lindydanny]

"Minnie the Mooch" - Cab Calloway's and man did it stink!!!

"Helz a Poppin'" - Featured Frankie Manning and Whitie's Lindy Hoppers. It's probably the best "talkie" that features lindy hopping from the 1930s.

~DB

[VersatileJazzGuitarist]

"Jazz on a Summer's Day," a classic doc about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

[brad4d8]

"All Night Long"
"Pete Kelly's Blues"
Not about jazz, but great soundtrack by Duke Ellington, "Anatomy of a Murder."
Brad

[Dad3353]

Perhaps off-topic, but...
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Lift to the scaffold...), for the Miles Davis soundtrack..?

[paynow]

The Jazz Baroness

*more of a documentary... but I am into documentaries.

Thanks for mentioning this. I wasn't aware they had made a documentary about her. That's a must see for me. Here's a website:

The Jazz Baroness -

There's a book coming out in June:

Amazon.com: Nica's Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness (9780393069402): David Kastin: Books

I also prefer documentaries. Here's my favorite:

Amazon.com: Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser: Thelonious Monk, Nica De Koenigswarter, Barry Harris, Bob Jones (IV), Johnny Griffin, Larry Gales, Nellie Monk, Teo Macero, Tommy Flanagan (II), Phil Woods, Frank Paccione, Thelonious Monk Jr., Harry

Nica figures prominently in it.

Two other favorites:

Talmage Farlow Film

Amazon.com: A Great Day in Harlem: Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton, Marian McPartland, Art Blakey, Gerry Mulligan, Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Buck Clayton, Hank Jones, Art Farmer, Johnny Griffin, Steve Petropoulos, Jean Bach, Susan Peeh

Both have great extras, in addition to the main documentaries.

[Jazzpunk]

'Icons Among Us' is excellent!

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[cosmic gumbo]

Mo' Better Blues

[randalljazz]

others have ripped it on various grounds, but i liked it...

Crazy - The Story of Hank Garland: Movie Synopsis

[max chill]

The Man with the Golden Arm.

[Stian41]

What about the movie about Ray Charles with Jamie Foxx? I like that one a lot.

[matt.guitarteacher]

I really like Ken Burns' Jazz documentary, though I understand a lot of jazzers don't. Of course I really enjoy his other films as well. I don't have a problem with (and actually enjoy) blatent sentimentality. Whatever aspect of jazz he may arguably marginalize, he does put forward the premise that jazz is perhaps the most important thing America has ever produced. Great music and great stories. Definitely emphasizes early history.

[Baltar Hornbeek]

If like your jazz alive and visceral, you might dig HBO's series Tremé. Not so much for you *bookish* types who take it in the auditorium rather than a club.

Also, Robert Altman did a good one called, Kansas City

[fumblefingers]

The Jazz Baroness

*more of a documentary... but I am into documentaries.

if i recollect accurately, this movie tales the tale of how Monk let this woman go to prison for his marijuana. correct?

[nado64]

Thank you for you participation.
I updated the list. I hope I have not forgotten anything.

Others ?

[Gerard45]

My favorite Jazz soundtrack is from the movie 'Mental Cruelty' with Barney Wilen, Kenny Clarke, etc.

http://www.discogs.com/OST-George-Gr...elease/3003305

Listen here to the Main Theme:

http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=14b40zk&s=6

[Rich Cochrane]

Cronenberg's Naked Lunch -- not about jazz but has an awesome "third wave" soundtrack that heavily features Ornette Coleman:

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Trailer:

[robertm2000]

"Icons Among Us" was interesting, had a lot of good music in it. But ...

"Interesting documentary, in a way. Parallel example to 'Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.' A lot of the new players, when they talk about their music, don't talk ABOUT it, they talk AROUND it - not relating to what has gone before or how the past has influenced them. 'John Coltrane played that - f--- 'em!' is not very helpful. If you leave out the less reasoned commentary - there were some good observations in there - and let the music speak for itself, this could be a valuable overview of what is new."

That's what I wrote as a review on Netflix's site - guess I'm more of a traditionalist than I thought.

[patskywriter]

i think gato barbieri became better known for his playing on the "last tango in paris" soundtrack. the music was jazzy, although i don't know if you guys would call it jazz. (i never saw the movie.)

i found two DVDs at a dollar store: "reet, petite, and gone" with louis jordan and "swing!" an oscar micheaux film.

[docbop]

Mo' Better Blues

Love Mo' Better Blues and Dexter Gordon's Round Midnight great band in the movie. Last Clint Eastwood's Bird they took some of Parker's solos and added modern rhythm section.

[Patrick2]

I haven't seen them all, but too many of the "jazz movies" I've seen were either documentaries or protrayals of the jazz artists' adictions to alcohol or drugs, than they were the music and/or the business of jazz.

Lady sings the blues
Dexter
Young man with a horn
The Man with a Golden Arm
Bird . . . although, I loved Bird because it was superbly acted and directed. Also because it was directed by a real jazz fanatic and frustrated jazz pianist . . . Clint eastwood.


Those are some of those that while wonderfully acted were more about the life styles of the artists than their successes in jazz.

I liked The Benny Goodman Story which stared Steve Allen. Steve wasn't the best actor in the world, but the movie was about jazz. There were great performances in that movie by real jazz artists.

Ray was just way off the charts great in every regard. Nuff said!

I also liked the Louis Armstrong Story, starring Ben Vereen. That was GREAT!!

[cosmic gumbo]

Want something really deep? Put on yer boots....

+

[paynow]

Not a movie, but everyone should see this at least once:

Johnny Staccato

HILARIOUS, without meaning to be.

I'm still trying to figure out what movie this was from:

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The waiter singing over Red's lines is killing it for me. Note the name of the club at the beginning; it was later taken over by new management who made it a punk club and changed the name to "Straight 'N Horny." Of course, Red "Yost" Norvo is playing over at the "Madhouse," which is where the screenwriter who deemed it necessary to give Red the middle name "Yost" ended up.

[Rich Cochrane]

i think gato barbieri became better known for his playing on the "last tango in paris" soundtrack. the music was jazzy, although i don't know if you guys would call it jazz. (i never saw the movie.)

Off topic: I haven't seen the movie but I'm a closet Gato fan. I'm not into the smooth jazz thing but when he opens up he roars:

[patskywriter]

Off topic: I haven't seen the movie but I'm a closet Gato fan. I'm not into the smooth jazz thing but when he opens up he roars:

i have his old ornette-flavored stuff, his ground-breaking big-band LPs, his unfortunate foray into disco, and his current, tamed-down stuff. love it. through it all, gato is still gato.

i saw gato in concert once (in the 1970s at the palladium in new york city). when he hit his first note, there was an audible AHHH (or muted gasp) from the audience. it was as if he punched them in the gut with boxing gloves. (and they loved it.)

[MackBolan]

-Pat Martino"s Unstrung
Martino Unstrung
similar to the above mentioned Tal Farlow feature movie.