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Jazz and Cinema


BillF

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I'm currently watching Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues on a rented DVD and, as a committed jazz listener, feeling pretty uneasy about several aspects of it. This reminded me that a few years ago my local arthouse cinema put on a brief Jazz and Cinema programme, which IIRC consisted of Mo'Better Blues, Jazz On a Summer's Day, Round Midnight and Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown.

If I'd been asked to choose a programme, I'm sure it would have been different. I would have kept Jazz on a Summer's Day, but would have found room for Pennebaker's wonderful short about the Dave Lambert Singers, Audition, recently discussed here. That great Swedish movie, Sven Klang's Combo, seems to have disappeared without trace, otherwise I'd have that too. I also recall a great documentary about American expatriate musicians in Europe which featured some magnificent playing by Phil Woods. Anyone recall its title? I've never managed to catch the documentaries about the life and death of Albert Ayler and the famous 1958 Harlem photograph, so these would be on my list, too. I wonder if I'd include any fiction films on jazz themes and whether I'd open my list up to actual filmed performances. If so, the film of the Joe Lovano Octet in a Paris Club and the Gil Evans Orchestra in Lugano would be in there. Then there's the question of whether to include films with notable soundtracks. First that come to mind are Anatomy of Murder with the Ellington orchestra and French cinema's use of Miles, Monk and Art Blakey in the years around 1960.

What would you like to see on a Jazz and Cinema programme?

(Apologies as always if there's an undiscovered thread covering this. :) )

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I'm currently watching Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues on a rented DVD and, as a committed jazz listener, feeling pretty uneasy about several aspects of it. This reminded me that a few years ago my local arthouse cinema put on a brief Jazz and Cinema programme, which IIRC consisted of Mo'Better Blues, Jazz On a Summer's Day, Round Midnight and Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown.

If I'd been asked to choose a programme, I'm sure it would have been different. I would have kept Jazz on a Summer's Day, but would have found room for Pennebaker's wonderful short about the Dave Lambert Singers, Audition, recently discussed here. That great Swedish movie, Sven Klang's Combo, seems to have disappeared without trace, otherwise I'd have that too. I also recall a great documentary about American expatriate musicians in Europe which featured some magnificent playing by Phil Woods. Anyone recall its title? I've never managed to catch the documentaries about the life and death of Albert Ayler and the famous 1958 Harlem photograph, so these would be on my list, too. I wonder if I'd include any fiction films on jazz themes and whether I'd open my list up to actual filmed performances. If so, the film of the Joe Lovano Octet in a Paris Club and the Gil Evans Orchestra in Lugano would be in there. Then there's the question of whether to include films with notable soundtracks. First that come to mind are Anatomy of Murder with the Ellington orchestra and French cinema's use of Miles, Monk and Art Blakey in the years around 1960.

What would you like to see on a Jazz and Cinema programme?

(Apologies as always if there's an undiscovered thread covering this. :) )

The film to which you refer is Jazz in Exile, also featuring Dexter Gordon, and many others (Woody Shaw?). There was also a long (maybe too long) sequence with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. They qualify b/c I believe they were expats or 'exiles' then. The interviews were very telling in that film.

Jazz itself has had an uneasy relationship with cinema, at least in the U.S. A lot of good composers trying to survive were assigned the writing of quasi, questionable jazz to be played under scenes where various types of moral decline were taking place. I Want to Live with a score by Johnny Mandel was certainly not quasi-jazz, but first-class writing. But look at the story: the protaganist is a woman on death row who happens to be a Gerry Mulligan fan. (God forbid she was a fan of any black musician, but this was the '50s. I can only imagine what the creators went through getting their product past the 'suits' with the depravity of a jazz-loving murderer heroine. I guess they figured 'better keep it white' and quit while we're ahead...)

The classic example of what I point out here is the use of music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra in Blackboard Jungle----in the scene, no less, where the delinquent teens break the poor teacher's records. And there's even a worse one in an otherwise deservedly loved film: Anyone remember the Fisherman's Wharf scene in D.O.A.? I won't even go there....

As to Spike Lee's Mo Better Blues, let's just say it was not his finest hour. I like much of his work (I think School Daze was by far his best). Mo' Better is IMO an insult to musicians generally (a distorted and heavy-handed presentation of obsession in artists in the Denzel Washington lead character); black musicians (I shouldn't be the one to broach it being white, so musicians of color here please weigh in---but I thought there were some embarrassing stereotypes therein, they offended this white man); and Jewish club owners (I'm Jewish and can speak a bit more authoritatively here, and I can't believe he let that vile, boilerplate representation of money hunger see the light of day.)The music itself was OK, at least.

I want to end on a positive note, though, and I think you brought up two of the most enduring examples of a great marriage of jazz and film: Miles' score for Elevator to the Gallows (I won't mangle the French.)It's not background music, but so important to the mood and tone it's really an important character there. Jazz on a Summer's Day remains a classic of jazz (and gospel, come to think of it) being played by top performers in lyrical settings.

There are too many great concert films to even do justice to, but if they were shown and composers could get their 'mechanicals' (not even sure this would happen as per ASCAP/BMI stipulations), unlike the Wild West situation with youtube, it would be worthwhile for that alone. Not to mention the musicians being compensated for their work and images used. Good films like these would benefit both jazz lover and practicioner.

Edited by fasstrack
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Some auxiliary selections:

Paris Blues. Not a great movie, but a fine score by Ellington & a fantastic cameo by Pops.

Sharky's Machine. Neither a great film nor a great soundtrack on their own, but together, they work. Eddie Harris playing over the closing credits is damn near ideal.

The opening portion of They Stole Hitler's Brain, the part that was recorded in the 1960s, years after the rest of it. No credit for who the players are, but it's a nifty, Paul Bley-esque electric piano trio.

Two Shirley Clarke films - The Connection & The Cool World. I think the acting in the former is hideous (or worse!), but I've heard others defend it rather aggressively. Whatever. Freddie Redd & Jackie Mac play live, so..good enough. The latter film is not nearly as bad, & the actual soundtrack is not what was released on the Phillips LP. On the OST, you get Yusef Lateef!

Might have seen Sweet Love Bitter once...don't remember...but check this out - Chick Corea & Dave Burns onscreen, Charles McPherson off...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR3Ebs-8gy4

Edited by JSngry
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Anyone remember "Too Late Blues". Bobby Darin and Stella Stevens starred, John Cassevetes directed. It's about 50 years since I saw the film but I thought it memorable at the time. Some big names on the soundtrack, Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Shelly Manne and more.

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Anyone remember "Too Late Blues". Bobby Darin and Stella Stevens starred, John Cassevetes directed. It's about 50 years since I saw the film but I thought it memorable at the time. Some big names on the soundtrack, Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Shelly Manne and more.

I do. Somehow. Saw it when it was released. I was not really impressed by Cassavettes at the time. I remember how beautiful Stella Stevens was in the film. Bobby Darin struggled with his part. Probably a film that needs to be revisited!

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Sharky's Machine. Neither a great film nor a great soundtrack on their own, but together, they work. Eddie Harris playing over the closing credits is damn near ideal.

Agreed. I saw that movie on HBO when I was about 11 and I remember really being struck by the score. I also remember asking my Mother if she liked the music and her response was "I don't like jazz". tongue.gif

There is a sequence in "The Best Years Of Our Lives" where Hoagy Carmichael sits down at the piano and gives some advice to the injured veteran, his dialogue and the little bits he plays on piano during that scene is incredibly hip and one of my fondest musical memories from the movies.

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I'm currently watching Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues on a rented DVD and, as a committed jazz listener, feeling pretty uneasy about several aspects of it. This reminded me that a few years ago my local arthouse cinema put on a brief Jazz and Cinema programme, which IIRC consisted of Mo'Better Blues, Jazz On a Summer's Day, Round Midnight and Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown.

If I'd been asked to choose a programme, I'm sure it would have been different. I would have kept Jazz on a Summer's Day, but would have found room for Pennebaker's wonderful short about the Dave Lambert Singers, Audition, recently discussed here. That great Swedish movie, Sven Klang's Combo, seems to have disappeared without trace, otherwise I'd have that too. I also recall a great documentary about American expatriate musicians in Europe which featured some magnificent playing by Phil Woods. Anyone recall its title? I've never managed to catch the documentaries about the life and death of Albert Ayler and the famous 1958 Harlem photograph, so these would be on my list, too. I wonder if I'd include any fiction films on jazz themes and whether I'd open my list up to actual filmed performances. If so, the film of the Joe Lovano Octet in a Paris Club and the Gil Evans Orchestra in Lugano would be in there. Then there's the question of whether to include films with notable soundtracks. First that come to mind are Anatomy of Murder with the Ellington orchestra and French cinema's use of Miles, Monk and Art Blakey in the years around 1960.

What would you like to see on a Jazz and Cinema programme?

(Apologies as always if there's an undiscovered thread covering this. :) )

How about Brit film 'All Night Long' with cameo appearances by Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck, along with Tubby Hayes, John Dankworth etc. Rather hammy, with Richard Attenborough, but a real curio.

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The 1972 film "The Hot Rock", with Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Liebman et al. has a score by Quincy Jones, and much of it was improvised-to-the-film.

In a very rare move, they were even given an on-screen individual credit: guys like Clark Terry, Frank Rosolino, Gerry Mulligan, Ray Brown, Clare Fischer, Victor Feldman, Grady Tate...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068718/

It's a delightful movie, by the way...based on a 'Dortmunder' book by Donald E. Westlake.

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Can't think of it right now, but I'm pretty sure there's a 1940s film noir in which a mentally disturbed jazz drummer goes berserk on the stand in the middle of a solo. Any ideas?

In lieu of that, here's a scene with the Armstrong All-Stars from the 1951 film noir "The Strip," in which Mickey Rooney plays a jazz drummer suspected of killing a mobster:

Pretty sure "The Strip" isn't the film I was referring to above. If the scene I mentioned there is on YouTube, it's a must see. I have a vague memory that Dana Andrews, or another actor of his style and era, is the main male protagonist (not the drummer), but none of Andrews' films seems to fit.

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Can't think of it right now, but I'm pretty sure there's a 1940s film noir in which a mentally disturbed jazz drummer goes berserk on the stand in the middle of a solo. Any ideas?

In lieu of that, here's a scene with the Armstrong All-Stars from the 1951 film noir "The Strip," in which Mickey Rooney plays a jazz drummer suspected of killing a mobster:

Pretty sure "The Strip" isn't the film I was referring to above. If the scene I mentioned there is on YouTube, it's a must see. I have a vague memory that Dana Andrews, or another actor of his style and era, is the main male protagonist (not the drummer), but none of Andrews' films seems to fit.

I do remember a film noir with a very intense drummer and another musician (perhaps the bandleader)asking him if he was 'still seeing that psychotherapist?' The film had more of a '50s than '40s look, if I recall correctly, but it was so long ago....Sorry, Larry, have not a clue what the title may have been. Also do not remember Dana Andrews in it all. Perhaps it was another film entirely...

I remember clearly the ending though: the drummer by himself on the stand, deserted by everyone and not caring, banging away intensely and saying something like 'everything's cool now', or 'I don't need anything but to be cool and play'.

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What about that wonderful film The Gig with Warren Vache?

Yeah, every musician ought to see The Gig. It's not perfect, and it's kind of dated in its racial politics, but I love its portrayal of an amateur dixieland band's dream of getting "a real gig." They do - two weeks in the Catskills, and result is a "be careful what you wish for" cautionary tale.

Those of you with Netflix should watch (online) Stormy Monday before it is gone. Nutso film.

Seeing the Nicholas Brothers' performance in that film made me finally appreciate dance as an art form.

Edited by jeffcrom
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Got it! Robert Siodmak's "Phantom Lady" (1944). Ella Raines (alarming though she is in this scene) does not play the title character, Elisha Cook Jr. plays the drummer. Here's the scene (and ain't that what jazz is all about?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vEgZM5x0ik

You can find out who's in the band here (including Barney Bigard, Howard Rumsey, misidentified as Howard Ramsey, and Freddie Slack):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036260/fullcredits#cast

More about the film (with a spoiler near the top):

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/cteq/phantom_lady/

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Here's a slightly fuller version (stuff before and after) of the "Phantom Lady" clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbCFZpEzeU4&feature=related

Gotta love Cook Jr.'s line to Raines when she comments on his dump of an apartment: "I spend my dough on other stuff, baby."

And here's an exceptionally creepy sequence from the film (talk about film noir!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ARFH6LPRh4

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