DVD Reviews

Miles Ahead (Sony Classics DVD)

Don Cheadle’s long-awaited Miles Davis film, Miles Ahead is far from a typical biopic. It requires its audience to come in with prior knowledge of Davis’ life. However, it is a remarkable film, especially for a first-time director like Cheadle. In this DVD review, Thomas Cunniffe marvels at the way Cheadle juxtaposes various time frames from Davis’ career into the same scenes.

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Celebrating Pittsburgh Jazz

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a small city when compared to metropolises like New York, Boston and Philadelphia. However, the rich musical culture of the city’s black community produced an extraordinary number of jazz masters, including Earl Hines, Mary Lou Williams, Roy Eldridge, Billy Strayhorn, Kenny Clarke, Billy Eckstine, Erroll Garner, Art Blakey, Ahmad Jamal and George Benson. Thomas Cunniffe reviews a new documentary and a new book which celebrate the jazz heritage of this great city.

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Thelonious Monk: “Paris 1969” (Blue Note)

Thelonious Monk’s tour of Europe in late 1969 was the last time he would travel the Continent with his own group. Despite a number of setbacks, the quartet was in great form for its appearance at Paris’ Salle Pleyel. As Thomas Cunniffe reports, the film of this concert has circulated among collectors for years, but Blue Note’s new DVD may be the first legitimate release of this material.

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Sonny Rollins: “Saxophone Colossus” (MVD Video)

Most jazz documentaries spend the majority of their time dwelling on the past. However, Robert Mugge’s 1986 film Saxophone Colossus caught Sonny Rollins in a particularly creative period. Mugge splits his film between an outdoor combo concert in upstate New York and the Tokyo premiere of Rollins’ original concerto for saxophone and orchestra. Through it all, the saxophonist captivates with his boundless energy and creativity, Thomas Cunniffe reviews this new home video edition of the film, which features 4K remastering and Dolby sound.

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Tubby Hayes: “A Man in a Hurry” (Mono Media/Treatment/Proper)

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of Tubby Hayes’ birth, there’s been several new CD reissues, a long-awaited full-length biography and now a documentary on the British tenor sax giant. Hayes lived a fast and full life before his passing at the age of 38, which makes the documentary’s title, A Man in a Hurry all the more appropriate. Thomas Cunniffe offers his thoughts on the film in this month’s DVD review.

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