Louis Armstrong
2) Jazz Ball
Author
Description
A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Formats
Description
United Nations, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department swings into action, sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. Director Johan Grimonprez captures the moment when African politics and American jazz collided in this magnificent essay film, a...
Description
Adam, a brilliant trumpet player, is burdened with guilt following a car accident in which his wife and child were killed. He finds happiness briefly with another woman but turns to drink and is wrongly convicted as a drug-addict when arrested after a drunken brawl. Desperate for money, his agent books him a series of one-night stands and one night, while playing a farewell number with the band, Adam collapses. The audience believe him to be drunk...
9) Grace notes
Description
Rare musical performances: Django Reinhardt with Stéphane Grapelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France in Jazz hot (1939), Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club Orchestra featured in Black and tan (1929), Louis Armstrong in Copenhagen, 1934, and a 1929 performance from the Utica Jubilee Singers.
Description
Cornetist / pianist / composer Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke (1903-1931) was jazz's man who got away - the James Dean, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain of his day. Born in Davenport, Iowa into an upper middle-class family, Beiderbecke became a legend even in his short lifetime, bringing an amazing new energy and unprecedented maturity to the music and influencing generations of musicians. After a bout battling alcoholism, Bix died in Sunnyside, Queens on August...
Description
Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and directed by world-renowned photographer Bert Stern, Jazz on a Summer's Day features intimate performances by an all-star line-up of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O'Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition of The Lord's Prayer by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning.
19) Paris blues
Description
Two American jazz musicians living in Paris fall in love with two girls on vacation from America. They must decide whether to stay in Paris for their music careers, or move back to America for love.
20) High society
Description
In this sophisticated musical comedy, a society wedding is being arranged in Newport, Rhode Island. The beautiful Tracy Samantha Lord is to marry George Kittredge. However, Tracy's ex-husband, the songwriter C.K. Dexter-Haven, has never stopped loving her and has hopes of winning her back. A New York scandal sheet reporter and photographer arrive to cover the wedding and complicate the tangled romances.