Couple of films I have heard Grant Green and Lee Morgan!

[andybleaden]

Hi all

 

Long time no presence here but saw an advert for a Grant Green Movie....and

 

 

 

 

and then in less than 24 hours a Lee Morgan Movie

 

I called him Morgan

 

Anyone seen these at all?

Assuming these are just playing at Jazz Festivals or have people seen DVDs?

 

Apologies if this has appeared elsewhere...tried to search but was very giddy to think these might be coming

 

[clifford_thornton]

The Morgan doc screened briefly here in NY at Anthology Film Archives; unfortunately for some reason I missed it. Surely it'll be back (the same director did the Ayler film some years ago). I didn't know about the Grant Green documentary.

[robertoart]

The Green doco is essentially just the film of the book as it were. It seems most of the interviews that appear in the book were also filmed, although I have noticed some extra comments that weren't presented in the book. No actual Grant Green film or music however. I believe it was screened in Harlem fairly recently. I too would look forward to seeing it soon somehow!!

[sidewinder]

The moment the Morgan appears as a DVD my order will be placed. Rarin' to see it..

Here in the UK it got a couple of showings by the BFI Southbank as oart of the London Jazz Festival at the end of last year. Richard Williams in his blog posted some thoughts on it. I think at least one of the showings was a sellout.

Edited 4 Feb 2017 by sidewinder

[Eric]

Oh yeah on the Morgan.

[Morganized]

 

The Morgan looks fantastic.... 

But who am I to say..

[Rooster_Ties]

Bertrand and I saw a free screening of the Lee Morgan doc (DC premier) at the National Gallery of Art here in DC on Saturday, and it was really quite good!

Didn't focus on the music as much as the people, but I thought the portrait of Lee (and the others in his orbit) was compelling. Dozens and dozens of incredible photos I'd never seen before (including many outtakes (photos) from a few later (color) photo-shoots I was very familiar with perhaps one or two shots, but not the several more shown.

Don't want to give away any spoilers, but interestingly the key facts of Lee's ultimate fate weren't discussed until about the last 15 (maybe) 20 minutes of the film, by which point the audience had 'gotten to know' Lee's common-law wife fairly well, through remembrances of half-a-dozen members of his last band, and from quite a number of extended clips taken from an audio-only interview with the wife in her last year (circa 1996, iirc). And she was portrayed somewhat (I don't want to overstate this), but "somewhat" sympathetically up until the point in the film where Lee's death is discussed.

And amazingly, she was remembered genuinely at least "half-fondly" by most all of the members of Lee's last band as well (well, by those who agreed to be interviewed).

The large auditorium at the NGA was reasonably (70%?) full, perhaps 300-325 people (I think it holds 500-ish), of which I would have to assume 75% *didn't* know the story of Lee's death (which wasn't in the program description). Quite surprising the way the film was structured, in that respect.

But all in all, I was very impressed. One left the hall feeling like you knew Lee a fair bit better, and there were even some (audio) interview segments with him in a few spots.

Not necessarily ideal from everyone's perspective (I'm sure), but I would highly recommend it, pretty unequivocally. Went expecting to be a little bit disappointed, and left a little unsettled, but *very* glad I'd gone. Don't miss it, if you get the chance. (And I might well buy it on DVD, depending on the price.)

EDIT:  There was a bit of nice performance footage, but nothing that I hadn't seen before (mainly from the late 50's and early 60's, I think 3 or maybe 4 short clips -- which serviced the story quite well).  But there was an absolute treasure-trove of photos(!), which Bertrand and I both found to be pretty great (I'll let him give his overall impressions of the documentary - I wouldn't want to presume to speak for him).

Edited 6 Feb 2017 by Rooster_Ties

[robertoart]

The Grant Green documentary is available for viewing on Vimeo. 

 

[Dan Gould]

As I still haven't seen the Grant Green movie, and maybe others haven't either but here is a Marc Meyers blog post about the new Resonance Recordings - down below are youtube links to the entire film.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2018/05/grant-green-funk-in-france.html

[robertoart]

11 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

As I still haven't seen the Grant Green movie, and maybe others haven't either but here is a Marc Meyers blog post about the new Resonance Recordings - down below are youtube links to the entire film.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2018/05/grant-green-funk-in-france.html

 

Thanks for the link to the article. Meyers is the first critique I've read that captures why the Antibes performances are my favourite from both these Resonance releases;

"Listening to this Resonance release, the jazz-funk tracks sound so much freer and alive for Green, who clearly was tiring of the kind of straight-up that dominates the Paris studio recordings. Listening to him peck away on the Antibes material, particularly Hi-Heel Sneakers and the longer version of Upshot. They are a revelation".

Edited 1 Jul 2018 by robertoart

[Lazaro Vega]

So, in early August Blue Lake Public Radio aired these Grant Green recordings from Resonance, the second one, especially, is from around the time he was in Detroit kicking his habit, and I knew from conversations with the audience that he played around Grand Rapids at that time, but I couldn't remember the bar. So I just said he played at The Lime Light. Got a call from a listener who corrected me -- it was The Golden Globe Lounge on South Division in Grand Rapids, next to the Play House which was once The Blue Note and was right across the street from the Pussy Wussy. Had a nice talk with this gentleman. Turns out we were both at Grover Washington Jr.'s Grand Rapids concert in the 1970's (I was 16 or 17 and since it was at a college, I could go). He said, in a positive way, "Grover played me to sleep! I'd done a double shift and came right over to the concert!" That soul jazz vibe was a good fit for that crowd then. Also, in the past, I had a call from Wilbur Ware's son who lived in GR and said his Dad was here often and played around these clubs, too. 

 

 

Edited 14 Aug 2018 by Lazaro Vega