Jazz is my Native Language: A Portrait of Toshiko Akiyoshi

The Dudley Moore Trio - Jazz in "Oz"

June 1971 •English

Historic performance by the Dudley Moore Trio filmed in Australia in 1971. Tracklist 1 La Nuit S'Epanouit 2 The More I See You 3 Chimes 4 Love Song For An Imaginary Musical 5 The Look Of Love 6 Madrigal 7 Moon River 8 The Swan 9 Bedazzled 10 Song For Suzy 11 Die Flabbergast 12 Yesterdays 13 Fanfare 14 Strictly For The Birds 15 Goodbyeee

Keiko Kishi, Eternally Rebellious

October 2023 •French

Born in 1932, Keiko Kishi has been one of the first Japanese actresses known worldwide. Her decision to move to France and to marry director Yves Ciampi in 1957 – after he filmed her in Typhoon Over Nagasaki starring Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux – caused a huge scandal in Japan. Despite this transgression, Keiko Kishi continued acting in her home country with Kon Ichikawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Masaki Kobayashi… building unique bridges between Japanese and European cultures. Free and rebellious, she emancipated herself from the many obstacles she encountered in the film industry, and created her own production company in her early twenties. Let’s look back at the story of a pioneer, an inspiration for many generations.

The Fabulous Baker Boys

October 1989 •English

The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.

Air Mail Special

December 1941 •English

Count Basie does a little rhyming rapping before going into this Benny Goodman instrumental composition. While he's playing, plenty of couples are jitterbugging constantly until, one by one, they get tired and start to fall down on the floor.

Jazz Legends: Charles Mingus & Eric Dolphy - 1964

March 2022 •English

Passing the Torch

November 2016 •English

Passing the Torch documents a ninety year old Jazz master, Jimmy Heath, mentoring teenage musicians with a thirst for knowledge and an appreciation of America's homegrown art form, Jazz. Director Bret Primack captures Heath's gentle, humorous sharing of life lessons and the non-threatening way he guides aspiring artists to musical excellence. An esteemed mentor, Mr. Heath reaches a much younger generation by understanding his role, to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and finely tuned to their needs.

Girl in a Cage

January 1965 •English

A fiery, lithe dancer is stripping in a cage on a jungle set, scored to intense crime jazz.

Geisha Playmates

April 1958 •Japanese

The story of a beautiful model from the flesh-pots of Tokyo.

Cold Trumpet

January 1963 •Italian

Chet Baker silently wanders through an Antonioniesque landscape in a Felliniesque state of wonderment as his improvised trumpet solos alternate between earnestly offering the obvious and mocking the artiness of the whole affair.

Streetlight Opus

December 2023 •English

When two buskers find themselves situated on the same busy street corner, a musical battle ensues when the musicians realise that the lively city isn't big enough for the both of them

Fire Music

September 2021 •English

Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and '70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers - brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane - are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America's most innovative art form. FIRE MUSIC showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries, and produced landmark albums like Coleman's Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane's Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement's key players.

The Gospel according to Jazz - Chapter II

October 2002 •English

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.

The Gospel According to Jazz - Chapter III

December 2010 •English

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.

Miyama, Kyōto Prefecture

May 2023 •German

The follow-up film to “Barstow, California” takes us to the mountains of Miyama, a remote forest and tourist area north of Kyoto. Uwe Walter, a shakuhachi player from Germany, lives there with his wife Mitsuyo for 30 years. Together with the villagers he prepares the annual Gion Festival. On the eve of the festival, the village representatives tell him that his self-built studio is to be demolished. This brings back memories for him of earlier times and his first steps as a Nō actor. In the manner of a fresco, the film interweaves rural depictions of everyday life with the story of its German protagonist. In the village community with its togetherness of generations, Uwe shares life with his neighbours, with farmers, hunters, woodsmen, poultry farmers and anglers, tills his kitchen garden, and like other tradition-conscious villagers, he also grows his rice. The film shows them in a harsh mountain landscape between the rainy season and the first snow.

Piano Blues

October 2003 •English

Director — and piano player — Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addition to interviews and performances by such living legends as Pinetop Perkins and Jay McShann, as well as Dave Brubeck and Marcia Ball.

Jam Session

January 1942 •English

Duke Ellington and Orchestra perform 'C Jam Blues'.

Sparni

December 2023 •English

It’s the second semester of junior year for Pierce “Sparni” Sparnroft, a gifted jazz vibraphonist studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Sparni’s prospects on the vibes were rejuvenated by their new professor, the world-renowned Steve Nelson, and are to be showcased during a student-driven recital in May 2023. But all the while, Sparni must face a crisis within.

Acoustic Alchemy: Best Kept Secret

June 1998 •Italian

Miles Davis & Keith Jarrett - The 1971 Berlin Concert

October 2010 •Italian

Containing a vibrant concert by the Miles Davis Band featuring Keith Jarrett.

Jazz session: Dizzy Gillepsie en concert au studio 104 - 1970

March 2022 •English