Film Review

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

FILM REVIEW May 31, 2020

Damien Chazelle's Netflix Show "The Eddy"

I picked up the gauntlet and watched the eight episodes of the Netflix show The Eddy because it was promoted as being directed by Damien Chazelle, who wrote and directed the films Whiplash and La La Land. Chazelle is something of a bête noire for jazz people, who've been highly critical of his approach to jazz. I've always sensed in his films an oddly ambivalence relationship to jazz, even a whiff of pathology and I needed to investigate further.

FILM REVIEW May 24, 2020

Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho

By Jakob Baekgaard

Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho A film by Liam Barker Liam Barker Film Production2015/2019 Acoustic guitar music wouldn't be the same without the pioneering effort of John Fahey, but If Fahey became the face of what he dubbed American Primitive music, a genre of advanced acoustic guitar music influenced by country-blues, Robbie Basho was just as important in opening the vista of guitar playing. Whereas Fahey's hero was country-blues guitarist, Charlie ...

FILM REVIEW April 23, 2020

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool - A Film By Stanley Nelson (2 DVD)

By Doug Collette

Miles Davis Birth of the Cool: A Film by Stanley Nelson Eagle Entertainment 2020 The two-DVD package of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool -A Film by Stanley Nelson reminds potential viewers to interpret the title broadly rather than literally. To be sure, the award-winning filmmaker and historian delves deeply into the conception and execution of that landmark music in his near two-hour piece of cinema. But his scholarly investigation is ultimately ...

FILM REVIEW February 22, 2020

The Doors: Break On Thru - A Celebration of Ray Manzarek

By Doug Collette

The Doors The Doors: Break On Thru -A Celebration Of Ray Manzarek Trafalgar Releasing Palace 9 Cinemas, South Burlington, VT February 12, 2020 The Doors: Break On Thru -A Celebration Of Ray Manzarek, lives up to the spirit of its subtitle. In the course of the film's roughly ninety minutes, director Justin Kreutzmann efficiently interweaves the main concert footage with interviews of the various participants plus vintage archival video in such a way ...

FILM REVIEW January 2, 2020

Trying To Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon

By Randall Robinson

This article was originally published at All About Jazz on June 5, 2008. Finding Validation Trying To Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon is a film that tells the story of trumpeter-vocalist-actor-comedian Jack Sheldon's remarkable life and career. Beginning with his impoverished childhood in segregated Florida and proceeding to his formative Hollywood teenage years with the legendary Chet Baker, the film follows Sheldon's career as he swings through the Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman bands, creating ...

FILM REVIEW December 7, 2019

Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am?

By Gareth Thompson

Clarence Clemons Who Do I Think I Am? MVD/Virgil Films 2019 Everyone probably has their favourite Clarence Clemons saxophone solo. Take that fiery blast at the close of Bruce Springsteen's “Thunder Road," for example, where Clemons blows a divine howl like some avenging angel. Clemons's life is documented in this film by director Nick Mead, who neatly uses black and white footage to highlight the musician's striking demeanour. Despite various hip and knee replacements ...

FILM REVIEW November 21, 2019

Blue Note Records Beyond The Notes

By Chris May

Blue Note Records Beyond The Notes Director: Sophie Huber Run Time: 111 minutes Eagle Rock Entertainment 2019 Blue Note fans will love this film. It is an unblemished, 360-degree, feel-good feast for the eyes and the ears. Intended by director Sophie Huber to make sense to newcomers to jazz, Blue Note Records Beyond The Notes does not offer any arcane new perspectives on the label. It is instead a ...