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Jazz DVDs and Videos - Jazz Documentaries

This is a work in progress based on what I've been able to locate and what's available through Amazon.com. Suggestions are welcomed!

On The Road with Duke Ellington (1967)
A mixture of concert footage and live interviews, this NBC documentary follows Ellington as he composes "Salute to Morgan State", eulogizes Billy Strayhorn at Strayhorn's funeral, records "Rondolet", and appears in a live concert in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker (1987)
One year before the Clint Eastwood-directed Bird, Gary Giddins likewise covered the life and work of jazz great Charlie "Bird" Parker in this absorbing documentary. Rare filmclips of Parker in action on the alto and tenor sax are intertwined with the live reminiscences of his contemporaries. Among those interviewed are Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. As a bonus, we see them in performance as well (and there are many, many bonuses in this film). As the title indicates, this is a celebration of Bird's life, though one cannot help but come away from the film grieving over Parker's premature death at age 34 in 1955. -- Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com

John Coltrane: The Coltrane Legacy (1987)
John Coltrane: The Coltrane Legacy profiles the stunning career of jazz legend John Coltrane. Via interview footage, television clips, and performances by Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Cobb, the tribute program creates a collage of visual images and musical rhapsodies. Viewers experience Coltrane's extended saxophone interpretation of Rogers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things." Coltrane, who died at a young age, was considered a star of the golden age of jazz. This documentary celebrates his restless, chaotic, and ultimately soothing art. -- Betsy Boyd, Allmovie.com

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1989)
This documentary of the late jazz great Thelonius Monk) (1917-1982) uses footage taken from 14 hours of European concert performances filmed in 1967-68 by Christian Blackwood. From his childhood in New York City's San Juan Hill, Monk grew up to become one of the most innovative jazz pianists of all time. Monk ushered in the bebop era of the 1940s and influenced such contemporary greats as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Interviews with Monk's manager Harry Colomby and Monk's son and namesake shed light on the character of the jazz giant. Executive producer Clint Eastwood got the idea for the project while researching the life of Charlie Parker for his film Bird. -- Dan Pavlides, Allmovie.com

Masters of American Music: The World According to John Coltrane (1993)
Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader John Coltrane has been almost as popular in death as he was during his lifetime. The prolific jazzman passed away at 40, but left a legacy of influential musical work. The World According to John Coltrane is one of the few documentaries to feature the background of this famous player. Directed by Robert Palmer, the hour-long release delves into Coltrane's beginnings starting with his childhood in North Carolina. It also showcases some live performances including the songs "My Favorite Things," "So What," and "Naima." Narration is provided by close friends and peers like Roscoe Mitchell and La Monte Young. Having recorded with masters Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman, Coltrane held his own and even surpassed the popularity of many of his contemporaries. -- Sarah Ing, Allmovie.com

A Great Day In Harlem (1995)
One morning in 1958, Esquire magazine managed to bring together the greatest jazz musicians of the day to pose together for a large group photo. A Great Day in Harlem documents the taking of that photograph, and discuses the music that these influential musicians made. The film opens with photographer Art Kane, his assistant Steve Frankfurt, and Esquire art director Robert Benton (future director of such classics as Kramer vs. Kramer and Nobody's Fool) reminiscing about how difficult the photograph was from a logistical standpoint. Although the picture was taken at ten in the morning, many of the subjects were not used to being awake at that point in the day. While such greats as Count Basie, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk were photographed that day, the film focuses on the contribution of lesser-known names like Vic Dickenson and Henry "Red" Allen. A Great Day in Harlem was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar. -- Perry Seibert, Allmovie.com

Robert Altman's Jazz '34 -- Rememberences of Kansas City Swing (1996)
This cool and tuneful documentary centers on a band of modern musicians in period garb playing a dozen authentic pieces from 1934 Kansas City jazz. Their performance was recorded on the set of Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City, and selections from this atmospheric concert were used in his feature. -- Sandra Brennan, Allmovie.com

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (1997)
Filmmaker McGlynn's fourth documentary [Dexter Gordon: More Than You Know(1996), Glenn Miller: America's Musical Hero(1992), The Mills Brothers Story(1986)] on a musical figure is arguably one of the great composers of the 20th century, Charles Mingus. The mad/genius, poet/musician forever changed American popular music and jazz with his classical influence, devotion to Duke Ellington and superb musicianship. In bittersweet tributes, fellow musicians, musical scholars and two wives recount the life of the gentle taskmaster, while performance footage fills most of the screen time. Though his reputation as an unpredictable, rather lost soul proves not totally inaccurate, some explanation is offered for the great mental hardship and physical suffering the artist endured during his brief tenure as a musical giant, all seemingly at the hands of his gift for music. -- Denise Sullivan, Allmovie.com

Ken Burns' Jazz (2000)
"Jazz objectifies America," Wynton Marsalis says early in the first installment of Ken Burns' sprawling look at the music, and by the time of its conclusion nearly 20 hours later, Burns has pretty effectively made his point. As he did previously with The Civil War and Baseball, Burns weaves together concrete historical facts about his subject with the overarching themes of American democracy, placing special emphasis on the issue of race. No expert on the music when he started the project, Burns' film combines the qualities of a thesis and a love letter . his now-trademark combination of archival footage and photos, talking-head interviews, as well as music providing both informative and persuasive testimony of the enduring power of jazz. The lives of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, characters whose far-reaching influence touched every artist chronicled in the film, give Burns a neat through-line, even while ultimately pointing to the project's limitations. Though Jazz will doubtlessly reveal new facts even to veteran jazz fans, it's likely to be most satisfying to the relatively inexperienced. There's only so much Burns can cover even within this project's expansive time frame, and because of this, he places an emphasis on the giants of the field, exploring only major figures and movements, and concluding with a final episode that unfairly reduces the past 40 years to minor happenings, footnotes to his eulogies for Armstrong and Ellington. Burns' passion for facts and issues, and the insightful, equally passionate commentary of Marsalis and critic Gary Giddins makes for a stirring tribute to the form . informative enough to turn any newcomer onto the music and stirring enough to light a fire under heard-it-all experts. -- Keith Phipps, Allmovie.com

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