Dec 17, 2024 9:58 AM
Tabla Master Zakir Hussain, 73, Succumbs to Illness
Tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of India’s reigning cultural ambassadors and a revered figure worldwide…
Trumpeter Lee Morgan (left) is the subject of Kasper Collin’s I Called Him Morgan.
(Photo: Courtesy of Venice Film Festival)
Despite pianist Fred Hersch’s onstage composure, when he plays, there’s always something intensely personal stirring just below the surface.
(Photo: Vincent Soyez)
Ornette Coleman (1930–2015)
(Photo: Courtesy of Atlantic Records)Well, readers: We’re still stuck at home, figuring out ways to stay sane and remain connected to the outside world. But when the day’s over, here are 10 more jazzworld movies to take in, each suggested to DownBeat through social media. Our initial post recommending movies to binge during the pandemic is here. Please keep the suggestions coming—we’re all gonna need ’em to get through these challenging times. DB
• A Great Day in Harlem (Amazon)
Art Kane’s photo is one of the best known images of jazzworld players. But Jean Bach’s documentary, detailing how it all come together, is just as fascinating.
• The Ballad of Fred Hersch (Vimeo)
The film follows the pianist’s life as it moves through health issues and bandmates.
• Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes (Amazon)
Blue Note Records arguably is one of the most iconic record labels in music history. And now, the label is the focus of Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes, a documentary directed by Sophie Huber, which premiered in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018.
• I Called Him Morgan (Netflix)
It’s likely that you know how this ends (not well). But this film charting the brief life and career of trumpeter Lee Morgan is still a fascinating examination of what went wrong, and it’s done through the use of surprising narration.
• Jackie McLean on Mars (YouTube)
Ken Levis’ 1979 film finds Jackie McLean talking about education and gigging, what he saw on the scene and the society that surrounded it.
• Miles Ahead (Amazon)
Don Cheadle is a national treasure—and a pretty big Miles Davis fan (he talks to Marc Maron about music on a recent episode of WTF). Cheadle wrote, directed and starred in this 2015 biopic.
• Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968 (Vimeo)
One of the genre’s most important composers has a camera trained on him during the eviction process.
• Ornette: Made in America (Amazon)
Independent filmmaker Shirley Clarke used a nonlinear approach to get at the musical world of Ornette Coleman.
• Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy (Vimeo)
Family and colleagues from the roots and jazz worlds figure into this 2009 documentary around the vaunted bassist.
• Space Is the Place (YouTube)
This definitely isn’t a concert film. Instead, Space Is the Place is a sci-fi trip through the East Bay during the 1970s with Sun Ra in the lead.
• Thelonious Monk: American Composer (YouTube)
A combination of archival footage and lions of the genre discussing Monk, this film is basically a love letter to a unique bandleader, pianist and composer.
“Watching people like Max Roach or Elvin Jones and seeing how they utilize the whole drum kit in a very rhythmic and melodic way and how they stretched time — that was a huge inspiration to me,” Hussain said in DownBeat.
Dec 17, 2024 9:58 AM
Tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of India’s reigning cultural ambassadors and a revered figure worldwide…
“I love doing ballads,” Mike Stern says. “It’s just a part of me, some part of emotionally how I feel sometimes.”
Dec 3, 2024 12:52 PM
Stories of major shifts and rebirths among musicians during the past five years are common, from weathering the…
Queen Latifah extols Harlem and the Apollo Theater at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors.
Dec 12, 2024 1:58 AM
Cuban-American jazz trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval and Harlem’s Apollo Theater were among the honorees at the 2024…
“With jazz I thought it must be OK to be Black, for the first time,” says singer Sofia Jernberg.
Jan 2, 2025 10:50 AM
On Musho (Intakt), her recent duo album with pianist Alexander Hawkins, singer Sofia Jernberg interprets traditional…
Robertson had a penetrating, pliant sound with a remarkable softness at its center.
Dec 11, 2024 10:34 AM
Herb Robertson, a trumpeter and flugelhornist known for his wide-lens explorations of the avant-garde, died Dec. 10. He…
