Soul co-director Pete Docter considered casting the lead role as an actor or scientist, but opted for a jazz musician due to the career’s “selflessness”. Pixar Soul was almost a very different movie. Early in development, co-director Pete Docter considered centering the film around an actor or scientist. However, onceRead More →
It was the kind of year that felt like a punch. Jamie Foxx not only coped with the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, but his beloved sister DeOndra, who had Down syndrome, passed away. There’s a quote from her new movie “Soul” that she loved. “The line is, ‘The worldRead More →
No ordinary man (Canada) 80 mins. Stream online at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival from September 24 to October 7 on VIFF Connect We talk a lot about the importance of screen representation, but No ordinary man aims to vividly capture the emotional impact of acknowledging aspects of one’sRead More →
In the 1950s, when jazz clubs dotted Los Angeles, Mr. Niehaus was a fixture on the scene, alongside other legendary musicians including Chet Baker, Hampton Hawes, Shorty Rogers and Bill Holman. But it was on the road with Stan Kenton’s band that Mr. Niehaus rose to national prominence as theRead More →
Stanley Nelson’s deep dive into the world of a beloved music giant, Miles Davis: Birth of Cool, will make its nationally broadcast debut on the PBS series “American Masters” tomorrow night, February 25, at 9 p.m. Miles Davis during the “Round Midnight” recording session in June 1956. Don Hunstein/Sony MusicRead More →
As one of Miles Davis’ bandmates describes in “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” a Davis performance is like a chemistry experiment. Every night, the band took the stage to perform a controlled explosion, with Davis as the lead chemist: a little danger and a lot of precision. It’s justRead More →
Ridgefield provided the answer. One day, Watson took his car downtown to Bob’s Auto Shop and “created this friendship” with shop owner Bob Ford, he said. Ford is not the kind of guy who calls himself “cat”. “He’s a good old boy,” laughed Watson. What they have in common, WatsonRead More →
Adam Nely is a New York-based composer, vlogger and jazz bassist, and he has a problem with the movie Whiplash. Well, to be more specific, he has a lot of trouble with Whiplash. Damian Chazelle’s 2014 love letter to abusive student-teacher relationships invited audiences into the insular world of NewRead More →
Miami-based artist Shira Lee is something of a Renaissance woman. She is a folk and jazz musician in several different bands, an actress and a writer, playing a starring role in the recently released web-series GROWN, which follows the story of two young Haitian-American men making their way through Miami.Read More →
King joined the UTSA faculty in 1995 and majored in jazz studies and music theory. (June 20, 2018) — Clarence Morgan King, Jr. lecturer in the music department of UTSA, died June 13 at the age of 63. A brilliant and passionate musician, King majored in jazz studies and musicRead More →
Wynton Marsalis has covered all the bases. Race. His role in removing Confederate statues in New Orleans last year. His deep antipathy for rap and hip-hop. And the damage he believes gender inflicts on African Americans. “I think it’s a lot more of a racial issue than tearing down theRead More →
The Nasher Museum presents “Precarity,” a new three-channel video installation created by London-based artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah. “Precarity” works with themes of risk, hybridity and the unfathomable to explore the city of New Orleans through the remarkable life and times of Charles “Buddy” Bolden, the first known person toRead More →
Just as Lee Morgan seemed poised to break the cycle of drug addiction that had plagued him for years, the 33-year-old jazz trumpeter died in 1972, the victim not of an overdose, as so many similar stories have finished, but with a bullet. The documentary “I Called Him Morgan”, whichRead More →
A documentary traces the brief life, trumpet career and volatile romantic history of Lee Morgan. (Luxury Submarine) Just as Lee Morgan seemed poised to break the cycle of drug addiction that had plagued him for years, the 33-year-old jazz trumpeter died in 1972, the victim not of an overdose, asRead More →
In the 1950s, some jazz musicians thought they couldn’t get that Charlie Parker “happy-sad feeling” without using drugs. So says a friend of saxophonist Frank Morgan in “Sound of Redemption”, a documentary that revels in joy despite some very sad events. Mr. Morgan was born into music. His father wasRead More →
The film delves into another association, with Joni Mitchell, whose albums ‘Hejira’, ‘Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’ and ‘Mingus’ are unimaginable without Pastorius; calling him the bassist for these sessions somehow understates his role. Some of Pastorius’ most striking performance footage in film comes from Mrs. Mitchell’s 1979 tour with aRead More →
Lifelong jazz musician and educator clark terry is dead. He was 94 years old. Al Hicksdirector of the documentary about Clark’s life, keep on keep onRecount The Hollywood Reporter Saturday. He had been in poor health for several years due to advanced diabetes and entered hospice earlier this month, BillboardRead More →
The art of teaching In Words and pictures, starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche, an English teacher (Owen) at a prep school clashes with the new art teacher (Binoche), forcing the students to try to decide whether literature or art is better . Owen and Binoche deliver energetic performances underRead More →