Film Review
They Shot the Piano Player
by Mark Sullivan
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 time of his disappearance) who was on tour with Toquinho and Vinícius de Moraes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when he went out on a ...
read moreLittle Feat: High Wire Act - Live in St. Louis 2003 (2CD/Blu-ray)
by Doug Collette
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 accurate portrait of the beloved band in its valiant (and largely successful) attempts to honor the legacy of the group in the wake of ...
read moreMaestro: The Leonard Bernstein Story
by Victor L. Schermer
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 fast-moving energy of a war film like Battleship Potemkin (Mosfilm, 1925 ) or Saving Private Ryan (Paramount, 1998). That's because Bernstein led a warrior-like ...
read moreSalvation through rhythm: Max Roach—The Drum Also Waltzes
by Peter Jones
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 October 1987, then--for reasons which are not explained--left it alone for years before resuming again at some point after Roach's death in 2007.
read moreImpressions of Zero Gravity
by AAJ Staff
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 films. It explores the mystical and philosophical dimensions that shaped Shorter's extraordinary journey. His fusion of spiritual beliefs with an insatiable curiosity about the ...
read moreLeaving Planet Earth: Amazon's Wayne Shorter Documentary Zero Gravity
by Peter Jones
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. In the first part (or portal), we see Shorter and his brother Alan, portrayed in black and white by a pair of ...
read moreClint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett - The Music Never Ends
by Chris M. Slawecki
This article was first published on All About Jazz on April 11, 2008. Tony Bennett Clint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett--The Music Never Ends Warner Home Video 2007 No matter how much you know, or think you know, about the life and artistry of Tony Bennett, you will learn something new from Clint Eastwood's lovingly rendered, impeccably produced two-DVD documentary Tony Bennett--The Music Never Ends. Eastwood and director Bruce Ricker weave together performance ...
read morePeter Case: A Million Miles Away - Take Yes For An Answer (DVD)
by Doug Collette
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 reveals: the Buffalo-born musician/songwriter boasts a résumé so expansive it might be refused as implausible if tendered as a film treatment. Born ...
read moreReed Rapture In Brooklyn
by Hrayr Attarian
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 director/producer Don McGlynn is known for the depth and captivating uniqueness of his documentaries. Hence, he was the perfect choice to make this film ...
read moreA Night At The Family Dog/Go Ride The Music/West Pole 2-DVD
by Doug Collette
A Night At The Family Dog/Go Ride The Music/West Pole Mercury Studios2023 Close to three hours of footage taken from television programs curated by the late Ralph J. Gleason, esteemed journalist, co-founder of Rolling Stone Magazine and passionate advocate of music from the mid-to-late Sixties, A Night At The Family Dog/Go Ride The Music/West Pole offers more than just a glance at the culture of the times, but insightful perspectives on the artistic movement(s) as ...
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