
13 Feb 1981

American Pop
The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.
"I swear, I wanted to make a “visual album” but this is literally the way the wind blew me this time."
Self
13 Feb 1981
The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.
26 Jun 2025
In 1932 Harlem, aspiring jazz trumpeter Ethel Franklin struggles to get her foot in the door. Dejected after another fruitless night, an opportunity arises to prove herself as the greatest. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Ethel goes against the most sinister being known to man: The Devil.
01 Jan 1990
American dancer and choreographer Hermes Pan recalls his life and work as he relives the glorious history of the Hollywood musical.
31 Mar 2006
Lin Hwai-min's Cursive II is inspired by the aesthetics of calligraphy. Set to music by John Cage, it is an exquisite meditation on the balancing of opposites presented in delicate simplicity, allowing no distraction from the details of the dance.
26 Sep 2006
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers features what many consider to be one of the fi nest line-ups in the history of jazzÂBobby Timmons (Piano), Jymie Merritt (Bass), Benny Golson (Sax) and the legendary trumpet player, Lee Morgan. Lost for nearly 50 years, this historic 55 minute concert, fi lmed in Belgium in 1958, one month to the day after they recorded their masterpiece Moanin, is the only known visual document of this infl uential band who were together for only six months.
01 Jan 2005
Over two hours of rare performances, interviews, animations, and experimental video. Milton Babbit’s discussion of the difficulties of working with archaic synthesizers in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in the 1950s and ’60s is a firm reminder of just how foreign electronic sounds were to even the academic community only 40 years ago. Likewise, Paul Lansky’s private lesson with theremin inventor Leon Theremin is an example of how non-user friendly electronic musical instruments could be, even to people who should have the best sense of how to approach them.
01 Jan 1968
A music documentary made with Sun Ra.
01 Oct 1997
"It must schwing!" was the motto of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German Jewish immigrants who in 1939 set up Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Blue Note, the most successful movie ever made about jazz, is a testimony to the passion and vision of these two men and certainly swings like the propulsive sounds that made their label so famous.
27 Sep 1961
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
Max Roach and his double quartet live from Stuttgart, West Germany in 1990.
21 Sep 2007
In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket, and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.
03 Dec 1999
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
11 May 2013
In early July of 2012, Scofield released, after ten years of record pause of ensemble Uberjam, a new and long-awaited album called Uberjam Deux...
01 Nov 1974
Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return to Earth after several years in space. Ra proclaims himself "the alter-destiny", meets with inner-city youths and battles with the devil himself to save the black race.
02 Mar 2008
Crazy is the story of a legendary guitar player who emerged from Nashville in the 1950s. Blessed with incomparable, natural talent, Hank Garland quickly established his reputation as the finest sessions player in Nashville.
29 Oct 2002
Kirk Whalum curates this exciting collection of musicians, coming together to perform THE GOSPELACCORDING TO JAZZ. The artists include Kim Burrell, Jonathan Butler, Georke Duke, Paul Jackson Jr. and Tata Vega, all neatly complementing Whalum's forays into jazz, blues and gospel.
24 Sep 2008
T-Square's 30th anniversary concert.
31 Mar 2009
Chart-topping jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and special guests performed two star-studded concerts at the historic Boston Symphony Hall with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on September 18 and 19, 2008. Special guests include Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Me, John Mayer, Katharine McPhee, Lucia Micarelli, Sting and Steven Tyler.
04 Dec 2010
Kirk Whalum presents this music documentary-cum-live concert performance exploring the impact of jazz on modern retellings of the Gospel. The film includes performances by Kirk Whalum himself along with George Duke, Lalah Hathaway, Doc Powell and Kevin Whalum.
11 Feb 2008
Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.