Home » Search Center » Results: Film Review

Results for "Film Review"

Article: Film Review

Medeski Martin & Wood: Not Not Jazz

by Doug Collette
August 10, 2024

Medeski Martin & Wood Not Not Jazz MVD Entertainment Group 2024 Director Jason Miller and producers Tyler Davidson, Jim Stark and Elie Weiss do not succumb to over-ambition with Not Not Jazz, their documentary devoted to Medeski Martin & Wood. The temptation would be to try and 'explain' the chemistry of ...

Article: Film Review

Rory Gallagher: Calling Card

by Ian Patterson
August 6, 2024

Rory Gallagher Rory Gallagher: Calling Card Dearg Films/Strange Music LimitedDirector: Brian Reddin 2024 If street signs named after an artist are any indication of their cultural status then there is no doubting the importance of Rory Gallagher. Streets in at least three cities, including Paris, and a Dublin square, ...

Article: Film Review

They Shot the Piano Player

by Mark Sullivan
March 21, 2024

They Shot the Piano Player Sony Pictures Classics Director: Fernando Trueba Run Time: 103 minutes 2023 They Shot the Piano Player is an animated docudrama that explores the real-world 1976 disappearance of Brazilian pianist Francisco Tenório Júnior. Tenório was a gifted young pianist (34 years old at the ...

Article: Film Review

Little Feat: High Wire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 (2CD/Blu-ray)

by Doug Collette
November 24, 2023

Little Feat High Wire Act -Live in St. Louis 2003 Mercury Studios2023 Little Feat's current personnel lineup has stabilized dramatically in recent years, so it's somewhat of a disappointment High Wire Act: Live in St. Louis 2003 does not depict those positive changes. Nevertheless, the 2CD/Blu-ray package does present an ...

Article: Film Review

Maestro: The Leonard Bernstein Story

by Victor L. Schermer
November 11, 2023

Bradley Cooper Maestro Netflix 2023 This film is what might be called a romantic biopic about “maestro" (and household word) Leonard Bernstein's life and work and his loving but troubled relationship with his wife, the Costa Rican/ Chilean pianist and actor Felicia Montealegre. Yet it has the power and ...

Article: Film Review

Salvation through rhythm: Max Roach—The Drum Also Waltzes

by Peter Jones
October 19, 2023

Max Roach--The Drum Also Waltzes Directed by Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro PBS American Masters2023 Anyone who enjoyed the recent Wayne Shorter documentary Zero Gravity might also dig this--a more conventionally structured but equally fascinating look at the life of Max Roach. Filmmaker and interviewer Sam Pollard began making it in ...

Article: Film Review

Impressions of Zero Gravity

by AAJ Staff
October 11, 2023

We published Peter Jones's review of Zero Gravity the other week, but other staffers wanted to share their thoughts on the Wayne Shorter documentary, so we collected them and presented them here. Ellen Johnson Zero Gravity, the documentary chronicling the life and music of jazz icon Wayne Shorter, surpasses the boundaries of conventional biographical ...

Article: Film Review

Leaving Planet Earth: Amazon's Wayne Shorter Documentary Zero Gravity

by Peter Jones
September 25, 2023

Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity Director: Dorsay Alavi 2023 Wayne Shorter was brought up in the belief that he could achieve anything he wanted to: there should be no barriers to his ambition. This three-part documentary--a true labor of love from director Dorsay Alavi--shows us that Shorter was far more than a musician. ...

Article: Film Review

Peter Case: A Million Miles Away - Take Yes For An Answer (DVD)

by Doug Collette
July 9, 2023

Peter Case A Million Miles Way -Take Yes For An Answer Passport 2020 Productions 2023 The dilettante music lover might wonder why there's a biopic/documentary available devoted to a living musician named Peter Case. Yet fans of the man have long known what a cursory glance at his Wikipedia page ...

Article: Film Review

Reed Rapture In Brooklyn

by Hrayr Attarian
May 30, 2023

Ivo PerelmanReed Rapture in Brooklyn Mahakala 2023 Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman is a restless innovator with a prolific output. Recorded in 2021, his magnum opus, the 12-disc box set Reed Rapture in Brooklyn (Mahakala, 2022), is a set of improvised duets with a dozen masters of the woodwinds. Versatile and award-winning ...