The Hot Club of Montevideo is a Uruguayan cultural institution founded in 1950 by the pianist Paco Mañosa, along with his brother and some friends who played together. It was the first club dedicated exclusively to jazz in Latin America.
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.
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
The daughter of jazz pianist Joe Albany witnesses her beloved father's struggle -- and failure -- to kick his heroin habit.
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.
Eric Clapton: Live at Budokan
Inside Out In The Open is an hour-long documentary about a form of jazz, popularly known as free jazz. The film is an exploration of that music through the voices and performances of over twenty such musicians, from those who were its first generation to younger musicians joining the tradition.
Recorded Live on July 18th, 1986 at "Montreux Casino", during the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland)
George Benson & Al Jarreau: Live at Montreux
A tribute to Charles Mingus.
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.
This legendary performance by Van Morrison and The Caledonia Soul Orchestra was filmed at The Rainbow in London in July, 1973. Previously unissued, it stands as one of the greatest live shows by any band.
A seventy-six-minute version of Häxan, re-edited and re-released in the United States by Metro Pictures Corporation in 1968. It is narrated by author William S. Burroughs, with a jazz score and soundtrack featuring violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.
On October 17, 1961, the popular and pioneering pianist-composer Dave Brubeck performed on Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual, the television show that showcased some of the finest jazz artists in a half-hour of no-frills performance and conversation. Backed by the Lester Young-influenced alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello, Brubeck and his combo perform some of their odd-metered hits. Desmond's dancing ditty, "Take Five" is rendered in a faster tempo than the studio version. Brubeck's ragtime-flavoured "(It's a) Raggy Waltz," highlights his percussive piano lines, while "Castillian Blues" and the Turkish strains of "Blue Rondo a la Turk" reveal his multicultural, compositional genius. Gleason, the show's creator and host, was a well-respected, San Francisco-based jazz critic and author. He remarks during the show that Dave Brubeck was "a provocative, experimental, and interesting musician." That statement is still true today.
Musical performers put on a show in a pawn shop to convince a man to give them the money they need to buy back their instruments.
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
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.
Thursday 27th of October 2016 – Teatro Espace, Turin. Mulatu Astatke is a musician, composer, arranger and Ethiopia’s cultural ambassador. He’s known as the godfather of ethiojazz, a unique blend of jazz, traditional Ethiopian music, latin, caribbean reggae and afrofunk. Born in 1943 in Jimma, Mulatu studied music not only in Ethiopia but also in UK and USA. In 2005 he contributed to the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch’s film “Broken Flowers”, reaching a new public worldwide.
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.