
16 Jun 1980

The Blues Brothers
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
A Spiritorio by Hannibal Lokumbe
World première recording of Hannibal Lokumbe's 'spritatorio' Can You Hear God Crying, which combines jazz, gospel and chamber music with West African prayers and songs. The piece, commissioned by Philadelphia philanthropist Carole Haas Gravagno, is about the composer's great-great-grandfather, who was born in the Sahara, kidnapped and enslaved in Liberia, and sold at auction in Charleston, S.C. He escaped to Texas, where he bought land and had a family.
Himself
16 Jun 1980
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
04 Nov 2016
The daughter of a preacher becomes the centerpiece for a conservative political campaign but finds herself falling in love with a woman.
21 Jun 1977
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
11 Jul 1984
The story of R&B singer Al Green, who gave up a successful singing career to become a gospel minister.
02 Jul 2021
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.
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.
28 May 1992
A Reno singer witnesses a mob murder and the cops stash her in a nunnery to protect her from the mob's hitmen. The mother superior does not trust her, and takes steps to limit her influence on the other nuns. Eventually the singer rescues the failing choir and begins helping with community projects, which gets her an interview on TV—and identification by the mob.
12 Aug 2021
The rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom.
03 Dec 1999
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
01 Jan 1953
Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.
29 Oct 2004
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.
27 Jun 2001
Bizet's Carmen gets a modern adaptation. Seducting, provocating, sensual. All the ingredients for a perfect drama. With her charm, Karmen gets out of many situations.
17 Feb 2014
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
18 Oct 1946
In this entertaining Puppetoon animated short film, a young boy, Jasper, gets trapped inside a pawnshop at midnight. All the musical instruments come to life and play jazz. A whooping wooden Indian chief self-animates as well, and goes on the warpath.
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.
01 Jan 1979
In this rotoscope animation, Tom Waits sings about "The One That Got Away."
25 Oct 1996
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
15 Nov 1941
A struggling band find themselves attached to a fugitive and drawn into a series of old feuds and love affairs, as they try to stay together and find musical success.
01 Jun 1988
Saxophone player Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker comes to New York in 1940 and is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
01 Mar 1950
Taken in by the musical world as a young orphan, Rick Martin grows up with a desire to play pure jazz instead of the commercial gigs he lands, whilst also coping with the problems caused by his tempestuous marriage to an aloof heiress.