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WAYNE SHORTER: “ZERO GRAVITY” (Polygram/Brave World/Plan B/Amazon)
The appearance of an extended documentary on Wayne Shorter on a major streaming service is a cause for celebration. Dorsay Alavi’s film “Zero Gravity” speads over three hours, with a distinctive tone for each of its three “portals”. In his review, Thomas Cunniffe recommends the film as a whole, but notes that the final portal…
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SLOANE: A JAZZ SINGER
Vocalist Carol Sloane never received sufficient recognition in her lifetime, but a wonderful new documentary “Sloane: A Jazz Singer” may rectify the situation even though Sloane is no longer here to receive it. The film is just beginning to appear in festivals, and Thomas Cunniffe, offers his appraisal.
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LESSONS IN HUMANITY
No one ever claimed that being a jazz musician was easy, and the three films reviewed here focus on those struggles. “Louis Armstrong: Black and Blues” spends considerable time on the jazz icon’s personal issues with racism, “Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes” examines the bassist’s struggles with the unexpected deaths of family members and…
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ELLA FITZGERALD: “JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS”/ COUNT BASIE: “THROUGH HIS OWN EYES” (Eagle Rock video)
Two new jazz documentaries re-examine the lives and music of Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie. In this Video Review, Thomas Cunniffe discusses the strengths and weaknesses of both films.
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“A ROMANTIC EVENING WITH JACKIE ALLEN” (AvantBass Blu-Ray & CD)
Of all popular music genres, the love song may be the most venerable. A new Blu-Ray/CD concert recording, “A Romantic Evening with Jackie Allen” displays how the brilliant Midwestern songstress brings deeper meaning and great expression to a wide variety of love songs written between the 1930s and the 1980s. In his review, Thomas Cunniffe…
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THE BLUE NOTE STORY (ON VIDEO)
Blue Note Records stood apart from nearly every other American label for its dedication to artistic freedom and its disinterest in creating hit records. The company founders, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, shared a deep love for jazz, despite possessing little technical knowledge of the music. After immigrating to the US from Nazi Germany, they…
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This is Gary McFarland (Century 67)
When Gary McFarland died in 1971, he had been praised as one of the 1960s most innovative jazz arrangers and vilified by the same critics for incorporating rock and Brazilian music into his scores. A new documentary, This is Gary McFarland, attempts to restore McFarland’s lost fame. In his DVD review, Thomas Cunniffe notes that…
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Charles Lloyd: “Arrows into Infinity” (ECM)
Under the right conditions, jazz–like many other art forms–can take on a spiritual quality that can affect both the creators and audience. Charles Lloyd has communicated that spirit in performances spanning half a decade. A new film co-directed by Lloyd’s wife, Dorothy Darr, examines Lloyd’s career primarily through the effect he has had on fellow…
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Chick Corea/Gary Burton: “Live at the Munich Philharmonie” (Naxos/ArtHaus)
Now approaching the 40th anniversary of their first duo album, Crystal Silence, Chick Corea and Gary Burton are still making music together, with a new album due in September. Thomas Cunniffe reviews a recently reissued DVD featuring the duo in a 1997 concert from Munich.
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Anatomy of a Murder (Criterion)
By 1959, Duke Ellington had appeared in several films with his orchestra, but had never been commissioned to write a film score. So when an offer came from Otto Preminger to score “Anatomy of a Murder”, Ellington accepted the assignment. Thomas Cunniffe reviews Criterion’s new DVD edition which offers an audio option that makes the…