USA/GERMANY: IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY NYC PREMIERE AT DOC NYC, Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 4pm SVA Theater 2

IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY  NYC PREMIERE AT DOC NYC, Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 4pm  SVA Theater 2 333 West 23rdStreet New York, N.Y.

The new feature documentary, IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY, executive produced by Wim Wenders, will have its New York City premiere screening at DOC NYC on Saturday, November 10that 4pm at the SVA theater in Manhattan.    “IT MUST SCHWING!” tells the story of legendary Blue Note Records, founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, German Jewish refugees who fled Hitler, reinventing themselves in New York as jazz record producers. From the 1940s to their retirement in the 1960s, this unlikely duo assembled a superlative roster of the most visionary jazz artists of their era. IT MUST SCHWING! tells the moving story of two friends, united by a passionate love for jazz, and their profound belief in equality. Featuring Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Quincy Jones and Ron Carter among many others.   The film’s world premiere took place at the International Munich Film Festival and was also screened at the Telluride Film Festival as well as the Warsaw Film Festival among others. The Wall Street Journal singled out IT MUST SCHWING! in its Telluride overview as “an unusually lustrous…gem”. Rolling Stone writes that it is “a unique and intimate look at the most exciting era in Jazz, one that changed the world forever … impressive!”   Some of the German press reviews include: “IT MUST SCHWING! is the most elaborate, visually brilliant and unexpected documentary on the topic…A cinematic, historical, socio-political and acoustic masterpiece.”   Radio Brandenburg Berlin    “A Gesamtkunstwerk – the creative collaboration between producer Alfred Lion and the sound engineer, Van Gelder’s studio recordings, the immortal photos of Francis Wolff and the simple but distinctly modern cover design of Reid Miles, the film chronicles how the legacy of Blue Note was created. IT MUST SCHWING! totally breathes new life into their work.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung   The film was directed by Eric Friedler, one of the most acclaimed and prolific documentary filmmakers in Germany. Friedler’s innovative films have won numerous national and international prizes.    Executive producer Wim Wenders is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999)  PINA (2011), and SALT OF THE EARTH (2014). His acclaimed feature narratives include PARIS; TEXAS which won the Palme d’Or (1984) Cannes Film Festival and WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) for which he won Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.       @DOCNYCfest is running a daily 72 flash sale with 10 films on sale for $10  Get in quick as the sale only lasts for 72hrs, and @ITMUSTSCHWING** is available today  http://bit.ly/DOCNYC10for10 More information, including a trailer, is at itmustschwing.com/en   High resolution photos can be downloaded from itmustschwing.com/press   Please contact the US producer at renee@otherislandsfilms.com if you need additional Information or Thomas Beyer at t.beyer.fm@ndr.de

USA: While We Are Still Here What We Remember Harlem Documentary and Salon Sessions WBGO

Some of the Musicians Who Lived at 409 or 555 Edgecombe Avenue… Bessie Allison, Count Basie, Aaron Bridgers, Leroy Burgess, Harry T. Burleigh, Al Drears, Mercer Ellington, Marjorie Eliot, Coleman Hawkins, Erskine Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Lunceford, Snub Moseley, Andy Kirk, Fonce & Larry Mizell, Paul Robeson, Billy Strayhorn, Craig Street, Eddie South, Juan Tizol, Clarence Cameron White, Cassandra Wilson, Phil Young, and many more… Tickets & Info

While We Are Still Here What We Remember Oral Histories Friday, April 27, 2018 at 7:00PM Miller Theatre 2960 Broadway at 116th Street New York, NY 10027 “In the Face of What We Remember: Oral Histories of 409 and 555 Edgecombe Avenue” chronicles the fascinating history of the renowned movers and shakers who lived/live in two of Sugar Hill’s most iconic apartment buildings. Captured on film, the buildings’ elders share memories of their famous neighbors, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Madam Stephanie St. Clair, Aaron Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, and a myriad of others whose cultural and political legacies influenced the entire world. The documentary puts "everyday" faces on these celebrated men and women, who symbolize courage, strength, leadership, and commitment.  Karen D. Taylor, Founder and Executive Director While We Are Still Here www.whilewearestillhere.org Our History Continues Like us on Facebook https://goo.gl/1Pn0Cc Follow us on twitter  @edgecombeavenue

USA: New Jazz Film: Buster Williams Bass to Infinity

 

BUSTER WILLIAMS BASS TO INFINITY

See The Trailer

 

View An Animated Excerpt

 

Imagine hanging out with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, hearing them jam together, trading riffs, then riffing with words and trading stories.  Bird and Diz are gone, but giants still walk among us. One of those giants is Buster Williams. Buster has played with everyone, from Sarah Vaughan to Miles Davis, Nancy Wilson, Art Blakey, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and on. Join Buster as he tells stories about his life and the lives of other great jazz musicians, and is joined by, and plays with, some of the greatest living contributors to this music – Benny Golson, Herbie Hancock, Rufus Reid, Christian McBride, Larry Willis, Carmen Lundy, Kenny Barron and Lenny White.


We need your support to make this film a reality. If you dig this music and Buster, please consider making a contribution to our film, however large or small.

​

Directed and Produced by Adam Kahan.

 

 

Kickstarter Link HERE

USA: Pittsburgh Jazz Film: We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told

MCG Jazz is pleased to present:

We Knew What We Had:  The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told documentary film features the talents of international Jazz Masters George Benson, Ahmad Jamal, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Eckstine, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Billy Strayhorn and Mary Lou Williams – all Pittsburghers – and explores the social conditions and historical events that conspired to make Pittsburgh one of the leading contributors to the legacy of Jazz music in the world. The one-hour film is packed with compelling interviews, historical photographs and over 20 live performance clips of the Jazz Masters.

The film is being distributed by American Public Television and can be seen on PBS stations throughout the United States beginning February 1^st.  Please check your local listings for show times.  If you don’t see a local air date please contact your local PBS affiliate to request the film.

If your market carries www.worldchannel.org the film will air on February 6th and 7th with multiple showtimes.


Visit MCG Jazz for more information about the film:
www.mcgjazz.org

Join us on Facebook to discuss the film:
@WeKnewWhatWeHad

Watch the teaser here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uecy2BPTnY

USA/PUERTO RICO: Free video from the historic "Salsa Meets Jazz" Benefit for Puerto Rico

Free video from the historic "Salsa Meets Jazz" Benefit for Puerto Rico

An assembly of Jazz and Salsa greats got together to revive the great and much-missed tradition of the Monday night "Salsa Meets Jazz" series that ran for decades at the old Village Gate in New York's Greenwich Village. Paquito D'Rivera...Randy Brecker...Candido...salsa greats Larry Harlow, Gerardo Contino and Eddie Montalvo...David Amram...Antoinette Montague...Valerie Capers…the poets Felipe Luciano and Mariposa...and Bobby Sanabria and his multi-Grammy nominated 19 piece Multiverse Big Band were just some of the all-stat contributors.             You missed it - tickets for the benefit sold out fast at $100 a piece - but seven clips from the show are available for free viewing here: Videos:https://www.jazzonthetube.com/salsa-meets-jazz-for-puerto-rico/ Ken McCarthy  Jazz on the Tube

USA: Jacob Burns Film Center Presents The The Ballad of Fred Hersch

Film Showing
The Ballad of Fred Hersch Live solo piano performance

by Fred Hersch

Q&A with fellow composer/pianist Mike Holober 
 

Thursday, Jun. 22 2017, 7:30

With three dozen recordings as a leader/coleader and numerous awards, including a 2003 Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and Jazz Pianist of the Year 2011 by The Jazz Journalists Association, Fred Hersch is also the first artist in the history of New York’s legendary Village Vanguard to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist. He has received eight Grammy nominations—as pianist and composer (two in 2012 for Alone at the Vanguard).

Hersch has collaborated with an astonishing range of artists in jazz (Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Art Farmer, Stan Getz and Bill Frisell), classical (Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Christopher O’Riley), and Broadway (Audra McDonald), and has exerted a profound influence on a new generation. His celebrated trio received two 2014 Grammy nominations, for Floating, and, in 2011, he mounted the ambitious jazz theater piece My Coma Dreams. His newest release, Fred Hersch SOLO, has received rave reviews, including this from All About Jazz: “When it comes to the art of solo piano in jazz, there are currently two classes of performers: Fred Hersch and everybody else.”

Hersch and Holober are collaborating on the concept and form for a concert-length jazz orchestra project involving Holober’s arrangements of Hersch’s compositions.

Tickets: $15 (members), $20 (nonmembers)

Buy Tickets

This film is part of the Jazz Sessions 2017: The Greats on Camera series. This series is sponsored by: Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan

Jacob Burns Film Center 364 Manville Road Pleasantville, NY 10570 914.773.7663 inquiries@burnsfilmcenter.org

USA: Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks Appear In Barry Levinson's "Wizard of Lies"

Vince Giordano and the 'Mini' Nighthawks
Appear In Barry Levinson's "Wizard of Lies"

Saturday, May 20th at 8PM HBO Presents Barry Levinson's "Wizard of Lies" The story of Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi scheme starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. The 'mini' Nighthawks [Mark Lopeman, Paul Wells, Mark Shane and Vince Giordano] were lucky enough to be a part of this film! You can catch a glimpse of us in the trailers. Premieres Saturday, May 20 at 8 PM on HBO The Wizard of Lies Trailer (Teaser Trailer) The Wizard of Lies Official HBO Trailer

www.VinceGiordano.com

USA: CHASING TRANE The John Coltrane Documentary

CHASING TRANE
The John Coltrane Documentary 

Opens Fri, April 14 in New York IFC Center   and Fri, April 21 in LA at The Landmark

CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY is a thought-provoking, uplifting, powerful and passionate film about an outside-the-box thinker whose boundary-shattering music continues to impact and influence people around the world. This rich... Read More

About The Jazz Foundation For 28 years, the Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) has been keeping jazz, blues, R&B and soul alive by helping the musicians who have played with everyone from Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Our social work services provide housing assistance, pro bono medical care, and emergency financial support to musicians in crisis. Our Jazz in the Schools program provides dignified employment for musicians who are too old or too ill to tour and reaches thousands of public schoolchildren every year. JFA now assists in 7,000 cases annually across the country. Please Join Us. DONATE Now   www.JazzFoundation.org/donate

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USA: BILL FRISELL, A PORTRAIT: WORLD PREMIERE screening schedule SXSW

  BILL FRISELL, A PORTRAIT
by Australian filmmaker and musician Emma Franz
has been selected for the

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
WORLD PREMIERE

“Ten real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices. Selected from 973 feature documentary submissions in 2017.” - SXSW website

View the trailer HERE  

A character portrait of anti-archetype guitar hero, Bill Frisell, this nuanced film traces the ideas and processes that shaped Frisell’s music, and provides rare insight into the mind and personality of one of the significant musicians of recent decades.

Full of live music, revealing stories, and intimate access to the normally reclusive Frisell, various collaborations are followed from development to fruition, including the last ever performance of the Paul Motian Trio with Frisell and Joe Lovano.

Also featuring Jim Hall, Joey Baron, Jason Moran, Mike Gibbs, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Cater, John Abercrombie, Hal Willner, Kenny Wollesen, Tony Scherr, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon and Nels Cline.

For a press kit or to sign up to the mailing list for future screenings, visit  BillFrisellFilm.com  

Premiere Screenings: March 12:  4pm   Alamo Ritz 1 March 13:  2pm   Alamo Lamar A March 16:  10h45am  Alamo Lamar A Bill Frisell will be attending the second screening and  director Emma Franz will be attending all three.

USA/Movie: Jimmy Scott Documentary „I Go Back Home“

some behind the scenes snippets from the upcoming Jimmy Scott Album and eponymous documentary „I Go Back Home“ // This is Jimmy Scotts very last record - Many of the most talented musicians of the worldwide jazz scene are paying tribute to him on this Album: // Dee Dee Bridewater, James Moody, Kenny Barron, Peter Erskine, Arturo Sandoval, Joey DeFrancesco, Monica Mancini, Till Brönner, Oscar Castro Neves, Bob Mintzer, John Pisano, Renee Olstead, Martin Gjakonovski, Hans Dekker, Michael Valerio, Gregorie Maret, the legendary HBR Studio Symphony Orchestra are guests and even the actor Joe Pesci got two songs with Jimmy Scott.

► To learn more:
http://www.eden-river-records.com
https://www.facebook.com/edenriverrec...


★ The Documentary film "I Go Back Home" ★ – Jimmy Scott tells the story of jazz legend Jimmy Scott and disillusioned producer and composer Ralf Kemper who took on the journey to produce an album with the almost-forgotten icon.

Jimmy Scott, friend of Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and one of the last connections to the golden age of jazz, was described as “perhaps the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th century,” by the New York Times. Personally discontented, Kemper becomes obsessed with the idea of bringing attention to his hero, but it takes a tragedy to put his thoughts into action.

By the time Kemper and Scott meet, Scott is 85 years-old and living in obscurity in Las Vegas. Reliant on his wife and reliant on a wheelchair, Kemper is shocked by Jimmy’s surprisingly bad health condition which puts his dream at risk before it even begins. While Ralf’s problems grow, Jimmy’s bloom more and more.

Ralf gathers some of the most important jazz musicians in the studio in tribute for Scott. Together with many of Scott’s old friends like Quincy Jones, Joe Pesci and James Moody, Kemper pursues his dream. He can’t give up. He spares no expense and reaches the limits of what can be done to capture Jimmy’s unique voice in a race against time.

►To learn more:
http://www.igobackhome.com
https://www.facebook.com/igobackhomej...
Directed by: Yoon-ha Chang

MOVIE: Miles Ahead (2015)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790770/
Miles Ahead is a 2015 American music film directed by Don Cheadle, which Cheadle co-wrote with Steven Baigelman, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson, which interprets the life and compositions of jazz musician Miles Davis. The film stars Cheadle, Emayatzy Corinealdi, and Ewan McGregor, and closed the New York Film Festival on October 11, 2015.[3] The film takes its title from Davis' 1957 album. WIKIPEDIA

USA: New Documentary from Bret Primack: Passing the Torch featuring Jimmy Heath

New Documentary from Bret Primack:

 Passing the Torch featuring Jimmy Heath

Donald Trump vs. Jimmy Heath At this point, most of us are suffering from election fatigue.   To counter that negativity, Bret Primack is posting his new documentary, Passing the Torch, for viewing online, until election day.  “I want to give everyone the option of experiencing some love, peace and understanding instead of the non-stop stress of this bizarre Presidential campaign,” Mr. Primack explains. The film is a celebration of the sharing of creativity and knowledge from one generation to another featuring Jimmy Heath and high school Jazz students in the Tucson Jazz Institute’s Ellington Band. Bret is now funding the marketing and distribution of his latest documentary to be shown at Film Festivals and Music Education events, and also available online at Hulu, Neflix, iTunes, Amazon and other on demand video web sites.  He’s also doing a marketing campaign to make the film free and accessible to students and educational institutions. “My subject, Jimmy Heath, celebrated his 90th birthday last week.  What a blessing to know and work with one of the real Giants of Jazz, and a truly wonderful human being.” View Passing the Torch here:  http://tinyurl.com/helpfundpassingthetorch A graduate of NYU Film School where he studied with Martin Scorsese, Bret Primack has been at the forefront of new media since he co-founded Jazz Central Station, the first Jazz website, in 1994. When YouTube debuted in 2006, he began posting video as the Jazz Video Guy. Now, his nearly fifteen hundred video postings have thirty million views and Bret hosts YouTube's premiere Jazz channel. Bret Primack worked in documentaries and industrials before a near three decade career as a respected music journalist. He has written hundreds of articles and interviews that have been published globally by JazzTimes, DownBeat, The New York Times, People and Swing Journal. In the past ten years, Bret has transferred his storytelling mastery to the web and he has produced hundreds of videos that focus on a variety of topics, including Jazz musicians and music industry related businesses, restaurants, educational programs, health care companies and technology specialists. In addition to his own films, Bret teaches documentary filmmaking and video production at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, where he resides with his wife Sandi and his pet Iguana, Murray. To help fund the film: http://tinyurl.com/helpfundpassingthetorch To view the live broadcast from the recording session:  https://www.facebook.com/passingthetorchmovie/ To contact filmmaker Bret Primack (520) 815-9022 jazzvideoguy@gmail.com

USA: The Birth of a Movement: The 1st Annual New York Jazz Film Festival

The New York Jazz Film Festival is starting a movement in Harlem to put jazz back in the streets and showcase jazz musician-actors.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 17, 2016

Jazz is dead. Jazz lives--within academia. No matter what your vantage point, a movement comprised of jazz musician-actors, writers, directors, composers and fans, all assembled under the roof of "Jazz Cinema" has been born in 2016 in Harlem with a mission of pulling jazz back into pop culture.

The New York Jazz Film Festival (NYJFF), created as an annual festival that is free to the public, will take place on November 12 and 13, 2016 at the famed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building on 125th Street; the Festival is the first of a three-pronged project establishing Harlem as the Mecca for this movement, says Executive Producer Sue Veres Royal.

Created by jazz trombonist Gregory Charles Royal, who as artistic director of American Youth Symphony has worked to transition jazz performers into actors in mediums such as theatre, TV and film, comments on the festival:

"Although music never dies, the industry framework in which jazz music existed has been dead for a long time. The instrumental musician, the jazz musician, unlike say the hip hop performer, never transitioned from the nightclub to those 21st century vessels of communication: dramatic and reality TV, film and theatre. Music videos and audio recordings are simply not sufficient for a variety of reasons. My duh moment though is that we 'got it' in the Golden Age of film with Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong and even in more modern times with Harry Connick Jr. and Reuben Blades, but what's happened since then? We need to put jazz, as August Wilson said, 'right in the people's lap'."

The 2016 NYJFF lineup will screen a handful of films that showcase some up- and-coming jazz-acting talents including "Kojo" featuring jazz drummer prodigy Kojo Roney (nephew of Grammy Award winning trumpet legend Wallace Roney);"Thrive" featuring blind piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker (who is also the subject of the new docu-series "Young Marvels" on the Ovation Network); and Duke Ellington Orchestra and Broadway alum Gregory Charles Royal's "World's Not for Me", which won the Harlem Spotlight Award for Best Narrative Short at the 2016 Harlem International Film Festival and whose musical score was performed by him in 1978 when he was just 17 years old as a trombonist with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Another standout of this year's festival in narrative fiction featuring a jazz musician-actor "Lunches with Mel" starring virtuoso violinist Aaron Weinstein.

In its first year, the Festival received approximately 400 international jazz submissions in the categories of Features, Shorts, Music Videos and Out of Competition. Forty-four films have been selected for screening.

The 2016 NYJFF Full Lineup including synopses, and screen times are available here:

The two other components of the jazz movement in Harlem will include regular street jazz on 125th Street throughout the year and a 125th Street livestream hangout staffed by hosts who will interview jazz musicians in public view year round. The 2017 NYJFF will transition into a larger outdoor festival and will be moved to the month of September.

The festival is produced by SVR & Associates and American Youth Symphony.

 

USA: New Documentary from Bret Primack: Passing the Torch featuring Jimmy Heath

New Documentary from Bret Primack:  Passing the Torch featuring Jimmy Heath

Bret Primack, aka the Jazz Video Guy, has started production on a new film, “Passing the Torch.”  The documentary, which is being crowdfunded, is a celebration of the sharing of creativity and knowledge from one generation to another featuring the tenor saxophonist and composer, Jimmy Heath, who turns ninety this October, and the Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington band, composed of high school instrumentalists. This past January, Mr. Heath and the TJI’s premiere big band opened the Tucson Jazz Festival and something magical happened between the master musician and these young students.  Doug Tidaback, an educator who runs the TJI along with bassist Scott Black and saxophonist Brice Winston, felt that the vibe between Jimmy Heath and his students was so strong that he invited the Jazz legend back to record with the Ellington band, which has won a number of Essentially Ellington competitions at Jazz at Lincoln Center. When filmmaker Bret Primack, a fifteen-year resident of Tucson, learned of the recording, he decided to document the proceedings.  “I was at the January concert and what happened between Jimmy and those kids came as no surprise.  I’ve known Jimmy since 1978 and in addition to being a superb tenor saxophonist and composer, he has a gentle, humorous, non-threatening approach to teaching that always produces memorable results.” The recording session takes place this coming weekend and on Saturday, May 28, there will be a one-hour live Facebook broadcast at 3pm EDT live from the session.  After the broadcast, the content will available on demand on Facebook and YouTube. “I didn’t plan it, but this will be my second film featuring a ninety year old musician," Primack reports.  My first documentary feature Taking Charge, featured famed big band lead trumpeter, Pauly Cohen.  I figure, if these guys are still doing it at ninety, there’s hope for me yet." To help fund the film: http://tinyurl.com/helpfundpassingthetorch To view the live broadcast from the recording session:  https://www.facebook.com/passingthetorchmovie/ To contact filmmaker Bret Primack (520) 815-9022 jazzvideoguy@gmail.com