Hallo Satchmo

Between segregation and cosmic revelation, The Magic City traces the birth of Sun Ra, where a city becomes myth and a man, a galaxy.

Brüder Kühn: Zwei Musiker spielen sich frei

This riveting music documentary traces the history of Jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson, from his early days as Montreal's teenage Boogie-Woogie sensation through his meteoric rise to international celebrity with Norman Granz and the ground-breaking Jazz at the Philharmonic and beyond. In this award-winning autobiographical portrait, legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson narrates his story, from his beginnings in smoke-filled Montreal clubs to hallmark performances with jazz greats. Concert footage includes an unforgettable combo -- Nat King Cole with Jazz at the Philharmonic and the Oscar Peterson Trio Wall reunion. Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie are interviewed, among others.

Chronicles the extraordinary rise of Haitian-American jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, anchored by a pristine recording of a live concert.

Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.

Denver’s iconic and Grammy Award-winning musicians reveal the secrets of their success and longevity in the music business while warning the young lions to whom they pass the torch to stay relevant in a marketplace both treacherous and brutal. The majestic Rocky Mountains tower over a bustling metropolis filled with steamy and romantic nightclubs where jazz flourishes on stage. JazzTown features never seen before live concert footage on historic stages that have now crumbled due to economic stresses of the Covid Pandemic. ~ Dianne Reeves, 5-time Grammy Award winner for Best Jazz Vocalist ~ US Senator John Hickenlooper (former jazz club owner) ~ Ron Miles (Colorado Music Hall of Fame, Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Ginger Baker) ~ Charlie Hunter (Snarky Puppy, Christian McBride, Stanton Moore) ~ Art Lande (Mark Isham, Gary Peacock) ~ Ayo Awosika (Session Singer on Soundtracks to: Wakanda Forever, Nope, Dune, The Lion King ... tours with Miley Cyrus,) and many more.

‘Lady Day’ was one of the greatest jazz vocalists the world ever heard. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. The tapes have never been heard. Now they form the basis of an atmospheric, multi-layered documentary that captures the many complex facets of a proud black woman, violent drug addict, loyal friend, vindictive lover and unforgettable singer of ‘God Bless The Child’, ‘Saddest Tale’ and the haunting ‘Strange Fruit’.

Shot in New York, Cape Town, St Helena and the Atlantic Ocean, Sathima's Windsong, is a lyrical portrait of South African jazz singer, Sathima Bea Benjamin. In her Chelsea Hotel apartment, home for over thirty years, she patches together her journeys, from apartheid's 'pattern of brokenness', to a chance meeting and recording with Duke Ellington in Paris, to making a life in New York. The narrative of her journeys are inter-woven with her music and the musings of folks who know her work. Like her haunting song, Windsong, the film is a meditation on displacement, exile and belonging.

Louis Armstrong v Praze

"It must schwing!" was the motto of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German Jewish immigrants who in 1939 set up Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Blue Note, the most successful movie ever made about jazz, is a testimony to the passion and vision of these two men and certainly swings like the propulsive sounds that made their label so famous.

Tenor saxophonist Jimmy McGary was a major presence in the Cincinnati music scene from the 1950s until his death in the early ’90s. With music rooted in Bebop with a progressive slant, the Jazz legend was a session player for King Records and released his first album as a bandleader — The First Time (with a quartet that included pianist Pat Kelly) — in 1979. McGary’s spirit and legacy have lived on well after his passing and well beyond Cincinnati, as evidenced in this new documentary film.

Documentary film about the life and mysterious death of forgotten jazz arranger/composer Gary McFarland.

Tenor saxophone master Sonny Rollins has long been hailed as one of the most important artists in jazz history, and still, today, he is viewed as the greatest living jazz improviser. In 1986, filmmaker Robert Mugge produced Saxophone Colossus, a feature-length portrait of Rollins, named after one of his most celebrated albums.

Il est minuit, Paris s'éveille

Django Reinhardt's music still looms as the standard to be attained some 50 years after his death.

Chart-topping jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and special guests performed two star-studded concerts at the historic Boston Symphony Hall with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on September 18 and 19, 2008. Special guests include Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Me, John Mayer, Katharine McPhee, Lucia Micarelli, Sting and Steven Tyler.

Documentary exploring the meaning and history of cool through the American music that started in the 1940s in the bars of New York and LA, and became known as cool jazz.

Jutta Hipp defied the odds and made it to the heart of the male-dominated jazz scene in 1950s New York.

Beth Hart celebrates the music and voice of a woman who enriches rock and blues with emotion, authenticity, and honesty.

A documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse, the immensely talented yet doomed songstress. We see her from her teen years, where she already showed her singing abilities, to her finding success and then her downward spiral into alcoholism and drugs.