This feature documentary offers a glimpse of contemporary Cuba’s rich musical culture through the experiences of renowned Canadian soprano sax player and flautist Jane Bunnett. Jane and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer, are surrounded by the charm of Old Havana as they connect with some of the city's finest musicians—like singers Bobby Carcasses and Amado Dedeu —for a recording session. Bunnett and Cramer then venture to small towns like Cienfuegos and Camaguey, where they hook up with local musicians and visit music schools. Global music fans will be captivated by the performances of Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, a celebrated Afro-Cuban rumba group, and Desandann, a 10-member a cappella choir that sings in Haitian Creole.
Filmed live at Tokyo Kosei Nenkin Kaikan on November 22, 2003
A documentary about Cairo Jazz Festival's Amr Salah and his struggle every year to bring people and arts together in a country where 70% of people are under 30 and the Officials do not care about culture too much.
Captured in state-of-the-art High Definition and mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, The New Orleans Concert ignites a massive celebration of Big Easy music past and present - redolent in jazz, rollicking piano renditions, classic rhythm and blues, contemporary funk and rock & roll, all as steamy as a sweltering Delta summer's evening. New Orleans' legends, including Allen Toussaint, The Neville Brothers, and legendary drummer Earl Palmer, are joined by Steve Jordan, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards and Joss Stone to create this extraordinary musical extravaganza, reminding the world once again that New Orleans is far more than just one nation's treasure.
A collectively made filmic opera in 35 parts. The Black and predominantly queer art collective, an evolving line up of poets and artists from across the world, abstracts and reimagines opera in any traditional conception. Set to hip-hop, blues, noise, R&B and electronica, the piece uses the voice (chanting, singing, screaming; written by poet and activist Dawn Lundy Martin) as its primary tool, verbalising centuries of alienation, vulnerability and protest in the global African diaspora through its disruptive libretto.
Bizet's Carmen gets a modern adaptation. Seducting, provocating, sensual. All the ingredients for a perfect drama. With her charm, Karmen gets out of many situations.
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.
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 this entertaining Puppetoon animated short film, a young boy, Jasper, gets trapped inside a pawnshop at midnight. All the musical instruments come to life and play jazz. A whooping wooden Indian chief self-animates as well, and goes on the warpath.
A feature-length documentary on the life and work of jazz musician and composer Krzysztof Komeda.
Danny 'Sweet Touch' Caputo is a young sax player on the verge of crowning his life's dream, to play in the festival that will send him to the top amongst the jazz greats. With just 50 minutes standing between him and his consecration, as he runs over his last simple question more to pass time than anything else. Danny tries to answer, but instead finds himself projected into another world, one populated by the sensual and very real ghosts of his past...
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.
Imagine hanging out with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, hearing them jam together, trading riffs, then riffing with words and trading stories. Bird and Diz are gone, but giants still walk among us. One of those giants is Buster Williams. Buster has played with everyone - Miles, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Art Blakey, and on. In this intimate portrait, Buster trades stories, and plays, with some of the world's greatest musicians - Benny Golson, Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride and others, and takes us on a journey through his life, legacy, and America's greatest art form - the truly universal music called Jazz.
Brilliantly mixing animated sequences and archival footage, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre paints a touching portrait of virtuoso pianist Oscar Peterson.
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.
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.
Diana Krall | Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival
Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.
Documentary about legendary Swedish jazz club "Nalen" featuring interviews with old musicians and singers, and old clips from the place in its glory days
A biographical film featuring the music and times of Bill Evans with interviews from Tony Bennett, Jack Dejohnette, Billy Taylor, Paul Motian, Jon Hendricks, Orin Keepnews, Bobby Brookmeyer, Pat Evans and more, including family and friends who knew Bill Evans well.