Tenor saxophonist, composer and producer Kamasi Washington and his band perform a special show at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater for the theatre's 85th year anniversary. Washington explores Harlem's rich musical and cultural history and the city's influence on his generation of artists.
Two musical stars from the golden age of Hollywood get a second chance at rekindling their love in the modern world.
Ozzy, beset on all sides by the eccentricities of the artists around her, meets Jack, a city-dwelling forest sprite jazz singer. Together, they escape Dante's, the jazz club Ozzy manages, and losing herself, Ozzy finds something else.
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.
Ivanhoe Martin arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, looking for work and, after some initial struggles, lands a recording contract as a reggae singer. He records his first song, "The Harder They Come," but after a bitter dispute with a manipulative producer named Hilton, soon finds himself resorting to petty crime in order to pay the bills. He deals marijuana, kills some abusive cops and earns local folk hero status. Meanwhile, his record is topping the charts.
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.
A documentary about the life and music of Justin Pearson. An enigmatic underground musician and owner of Three One G records.
John Zorn: alto sax, vocals Bill Frisell: guitar Wayne Horvitz: keyboards, piano Fred Frith: bass Joey Baron: drums
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
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.
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
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.
Founded in the Bronx by Jamaican expat Lloyd ‘Bullwackie’ Barnes in 1976, Wackie’s take on dub and reggae was nothing if not distinctive. Idiosyncratic by nature, and textually lo-fi by necessity, this unique mojo long served as the label’s de facto sonic aesthetic. A protégé of Prince Buster, and a former engineer at Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, Barnes’ touch can be felt across dozens of records including sides from Wayne Jarrett, Sugar Minott, Prince Douglas, Horace Andy, Love Joys, and fellow producer, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Released in 1981, the following hour-long documentary, Bullwackie In New York, provides a priceless snapshot of the independent label and the culture surrounding it. Live performances, interviews, studio footage and more.
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
Jazz vocalist Dave Lambert auditions a new group of singers at RCA Studios in 1964.
Saxophone player Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker comes to New York in 1940 and is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
All-Star concert recorded at Lincoln Center in 1982 -- Featuring Max Roach, Jon Faddis, John Lewis and Milt Jackson.
George Benson & Al Jarreau: Live at Montreux