It's 1959 in a seedy bar in Philadelphia, and Billie Holiday is giving one of her last performances interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music 4 months before her death.
Throughout three decades, Bill Laswell has been a constant innovator, fusing seemingly disparate genres into a whole new sound. Touching upon everything from worldbeat, funk, rock, hip-hop and jazz, there are no limits to his experimental approach. Among his many talents is his ability to bring together well-matched singers and players to create a distinct style that defies easy classification. His Soundstage episode embodies his unique approach, transcending any genre boundaries and delivering an engaging performance. From the World Beat of Tabla Beat Science, to the jazzy flavors of Pharoah Sanders backed by Material, it’s an exciting mix. Other surprises include a rocking Buckethead set that includes a little breakdancing and songs by Praxis. The show culminates with an all-star performance, funked up by Bootsy Collins.
On October 17, 1996, veteran and contemporary jazz greats gathered for a select soiree on the stage of New York's Carnegie Hall, saluting a guy more noted for making popular films than for making sweet music. But as any fan of Clint Eastwood, especially after he started directing 30 years ago, will attest, the award-winning star is also an inveterate jazz lover who has uniquely integrated that musical form into the scores of his films. Join Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Flip Phillips, Charles McPherson, James Rivers, Slide Hampton, Hank Jones, Thelonious Monk Jr., the Kyle Eastwood Quartet, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and more for this scintillating celebration of film and music.
JAZZ HOT is a major discovery, a unique sync sound film recorded of Django Reinhardt, greatest of jazz guitarists, here with violinist Stephane Grappelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.
Dutch singer Caro Emerald burst into the limelight in 2010 when her debut album “Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor” went straight to the No.1 spot in her native Holland. Later in the year it was released across Europe to universal acclaim and huge commercial success. Her second album “The Shocking Miss Emerald”, released in the spring of 2013, was a No.1 album in the UK and Holland and continues to be a top chart title in many territories. This performance was filmed at the BBC Radio Theatre for BBC’s “In Concert” series earlier this year, with a 60 minute version being broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and on digital TV. The show features a mix of tracks from both her studio albums, including all her hits, and with a cover version of the Noel Coward song “Mad About The Boy”. Caro Emerald is a wonderful live performer with a fantastic voice and an engaging personality and this concert captures her at her best.
“The Language of the Unknown” accompanies the great saxophonist and his band with a concert on November 3, 2012 in the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and observes the effect of the music on its creators, who are normally much too busy with creating the new than to deal with music already played.
World-famous jazz club Ronnie Scott’s hosts a tribute to Burt Bacharach - a songwriter, producer and pianist who us widely seen as one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century. Clive Myrie is at the show, which features brand new jazz-inspired arrangements of some of Burt Bacharach’s best-loved music by the club’s artistic director James Pearson. The setlist spans Burt Bacharach’s epic career and includes The Look of Love, Alfie, Wives and Lovers, Do You Know the Way to San Jose and That’s What Friends Are For.
In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman (Jessica Lundberg) remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.
Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.
In 1979 and 1980, three world renowned guitarists, John Mc Laughlin, Paco De Lucia and Larry Coryell, formed a guitar super-trio and toured Europe. This is the recording of their performance live at Royal Albert Hall.
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.
A jazzy film in which the spectator is forced to look with the ears and listen with the eyes. An abstract film drawn directly on the computer.
Multiple Grammy Award winner, Norah Jones, plays an exclusive sold-out show at the world-famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. This wonderfully intimate live performance film sees Jones return to the piano, accompanied on stage by drummer Brian Blade and bassist Chris Thomas to form a classic jazz trio. The group play tracks from Jones’ sixth solo album Day Breaks and a selection of hits from her extensive catalogue including the hit singles, 'Carry On', ‘Flipside' and 'Don’t Know Why’.
A documentary about the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records and its German founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff. As jews they had to flee Germany and the Hitler regime in the late 1930s. In New York they wrote music history with their record label Blue Note Records.
The blues has always been a vital component of Carlos Santana' music. On a magical night at Montreux Jazz Festival in July 2004, he was given the opportunity to present and to perform with three of his favourite bluesmen: Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Bobby Parker and Buddy Guy.
A monumental homage to Glenn Miller, a one shot film - Glenn Miller 2000. This 26- minute long piece, shot on a circular road in Novi Zagreb in many ways corresponded to the previously discussed attributes that linked Tom's homages and "uses" of Glenn Miller with Miller's music and personality.
Ed Motta em DVD
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
A portrait of Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund.