Jazz on Film (collection)
A selection of films that incorporate jazz into their story. Ranging from Shirley Clarke's The Connection, a play within a play within a jazz concert, to portraits of jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and Marcus Miller, these films celebrate and appreciate the music art form.
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Music for Black Pigeons
Directed by Jørgen Leth, Andreas Koefoed • Documentary • With Jakob Bro, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell • 2022 • 92 minutes
An informed and intimate portrayal of the jazz scene that offers revelatory glimpses for fans of the genre, Music For Black Pigeons strikes a universal chord in its p...
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Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise
Directed by Robert Mugge • Documentary • With Sun Ra and his Arkestra • 1980 • 59 minutes
Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poet...
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The Great Flood
Directed by Bill Morrison • Documentary • 2013 • 80 minutes
The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in American history. In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its earthen embankments in 145 places and inundated 27,000 square miles. Part of its legacy was ...
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The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes on the Life of Nat Hentoff
Directed by David L. Lewis • Documentary • With Nat Hentoff, Amiri Baraka • 2013 • 86 minutes
Nat Hentoff was one of the enduring voices of the last 65 years, a writer who championed jazz as an art form and was present at the creation of ‘alternative’ journalism in America. This unique documenta...
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Marcus
Directed by Patrick Savey • Documentary • With Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Miles Davis • 2014 • 97 minutes
Patrick Savey plunges us into Marcus’s world, capturing the New York roots of the legendary bass player, following his path like the pebbles of Tom Thumb, as he meets mast...
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Gil Scott-Heron: Black Wax
Directed by Robert Mugge • Documentary • With Gil Scott-Heron • 1983 • 79 minutes
BLACK WAX is a musical-political entertainment film produced and directed by Robert Mugge. It centers on the late African American poet-singer-songwriter Gil Scott-Heron - the man Melody Maker called "the most dang...
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Ornette: Made in America
Directed by Shirley Clarke • Documentary • With Ornette Coleman, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Buckminster Fuller, Don Cherry, Yoko Ono, Charlie Haden, Robert Palmer • 1985 • 85 minutes
Returning in 1983 to his home in Fort Worth, Texas, documentary footage and dramatic scenes recall legendar...
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Stations of the Elevated
Directed by Manfred Kirchheimer • Documentary • 1981 • 46 minutes
Stations of the Elevated (1981) is a 45-minute city symphony directed, produced and edited by Manfred Kirchheimer. Shot on lush 16mm color reversal stock, the film weaves together vivid images of graffiti- covered elevated subway ...
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NY Export: Opus Jazz
Directed by Jody Lee Lipes & Henry Joost • Documentary • 2010 • 60 minutes
In 1958, Jerome Robbins’ “ballet in sneakers,” NY Export: Opus Jazz, became a smash hit when it was broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show and toured around the world. Set to an evocative jazz score by Robert Prince, the dance...
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Oscar
Directed by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre • Animation • 2016 • 12 minutes
Brilliantly mixing animated sequences and archival footage, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre paints a touching portrait of virtuoso pianist Oscar Peterson. As with her previous films (McLaren's Negative and Jutra), Saint-Pierre pursues...
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Ronnie's
Directed by Oliver Murray • Documentary • With Ronnie Scott, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimi Hendrix, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Chet Baker, Quincy Jones • 2020 • 102 minutes
Ronnie’s chronicles the life of saxophonist Ronnie Scott, a poor, Jewish kid growing up in 1940s East End, London ...
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No Ordinary Man
Directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt • Documentary • With Susan Stryker, Stephan Pennington, Billy Tipton Jr. • 2020 • 80 minutes
American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-twentieth century, along with his band The Billy Tipton Trio. A...
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Myth of a Colorblind France
Directed by Alan Govenar • Documentary • With Tyler Stovall, Monique Y. Wells, Thomas Allen Harris, Karim Toure, Akin Babatunde • 2020 • 86 minutes
For more than a century, African American artists, authors, musicians and others have traveled to Paris to liberate themselves from the racism of th...