Jazz Movies

Young Benny Goodman is taught clarinet by a music professor. He is advised to play whichever kind of music he likes best, but to make a living, Benny...

A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.

Wild Man Blues is a 1998 documentary film directed by Barbara Kopple, about the musical avocation of actor/director/comic Woody Allen. The film takes...

Part jazz history, part true-crime tale, Kasper Collin’s new documentary employs extensive archival footage and new interviews to tell the...

Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but...

"What would the world be like without Beethoven?" That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary from Deutsche Welle. To...

Three hip, Little Pigs are travelling entertainers, moving from straw to wood, to brick nightclubs, playing swinging tunes for high-class, "with it"...

Bayou Maharajah explores the life and music of New Orleans piano legend James Booker, the man Dr. John described as "the best black, gay, one-eyed...

After connecting with the shy Madeline, a jazz trumpeter embarks on a quest for a more gregarious paramour, but through a series of twists and turns...

Mammy steps out for the evening. While she's away, the cats - in this case Tom and three of his alley cat friends - play. Play and perform rollicking...

A documentary about the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records and its German founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff. As jews they had to flee...

As seen and heard by... the Standing on the corner art ensemble, an "Exhibition" Index Film

This episode focuses on Zappa's early 70s albums, Overnight Sensation (1973) and Apostrophy (') (1974). Together they encapsulate Zappa's...

Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of...

Candy Dulfer is one of the most in-demand saxophone players, with a solo career spanning 10 albums. She regularly performs with Prince ("When I want...

Documentary exploring the meaning and history of cool through the American music that started in the 1940s in the bars of New York and LA, and became...

Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots,...

1950s Soho beats with far more energy than its 21st century counterpart in this vivid time capsule.