Film Reviews Archives - Jazz Journal

Music For Black Pigeons

Michael Tucker — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 12:44:50 +0000

The quartet gig which John Surman had at Ronnie Scott’s this past June (reviewed 12/06) was memorable enough in itself. What made the evening extra special was the fact that long-time ECM aficionados Adrian and Jane Goldsmith were in the audience. We had never met up before but when we did, just after the gig […]

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Symphonies in Black: Duke Ellington shorts at the Barbican, London

Leon Nock — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 12:36:49 +0000

Back in the day, when you and I were young, Maggie, and your local Essoldo offered not one, but two feature films, a newsreel, magazine – Pathe Pictorial, Look At Life – and a cartoon, they were wont to throw in, as an occasional bonus, short black and white films featuring the bands of the […]

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The Humbler – Danny Gatton

Mark Gilbert — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 16:10:18 +0000

Comprehensive chronicle adds new footage of 'the greatest guitarist you never heard', one perhaps isolated by his eclecticism and virtuosity

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Sloane: A Jazz Singer

Bruce Crowther — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 11:03:27 +0000

Songbook devotee Sloane was acclaimed at Newport in 1961 but then faced the onset of 60s pop, which she defied with typical tenacity

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City Of A Million Dreams

Bruce Crowther — Wed, 17 May 2023 18:14:29 +0000

The potent collision of African and European style in New Orleans led to jazz and informs the music of the city's famous funeral processions

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Oscar Peterson: Black + White

John White — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 11:50:25 +0000

Film tribute to the pianist has valuable footage of OP and testimony from other musicians but doesn't convey his real significance

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Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues

Leon Nock — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 09:35:52 +0000

Sacha Jenkins' sharply produced documentary should hold the attention of anyone, be they Wonderful World passerby or seasoned jazz buff

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Dale Bruning: A Tribute To Jim Hall

Bruce Crowther — Sun, 21 Aug 2022 10:42:49 +0000

Bill Frisell and Ron Miles were among the sextet that paid tribute to the late guitarist in a September 2014 concert now available on video

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In Cold Blood

Matthew Wright — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:18:34 +0000

The film In Cold Blood, based upon Truman Capote’s book about the murders of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959, is here re-released as a special edition, with interviews and extras. It’s an example of the early soundtrack work of composer and arranger Quincy Jones. A trumpeter with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band in […]

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A Man Called Adam

Graham Colombé — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 09:58:41 +0000

I imagine a film critic would find fault with a number of aspects of this film, but my responsibility is to assess what interest it may have for someone who likes jazz. Sammy Davis Junior acts with expected aplomb as a jazz trumpeter who mimes quite effectively to solos recorded by Nat Adderley. Picture and […]

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