Director
The Story of Jazz gives us just that, a panorama of the mode since its New Orleans inception right up to 50s and 60s free jazz and modern manifestations, compressing all into a fast-moving and engrossing 98 minutes zeroing in on historic authenticity. Along the way and all through the series, 80 prominent figures were interviewed—Dizzy, Brubeck, Lester Bowie, Tony Bennett, and a universe of others—giving intimate windows onto the daily nuts and bolts beneath historic chronologies. Then there are performance clips from Miles, the Duke, the Count, Mingus, and many giants of the genre.
Producer
Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.
Director
Through a more personal and conversational style of documentary, Thelonious Monk – American Composer was the first fully rounded portrait of this terribly misunderstood man and musician. He was the pianistic ringleader of the bebop revolution and, after Duke Ellington, jazz' first major composer. Thelonious Sphere Monk – a most original talent – remained a highly productive musician after more than thirty years of musical activity and continued to be a growing artist, exploring his art and extending his range.
Director
Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday integrates film and video performances, recordings, words from her controversial autobiography (read by actress Ruby Dee) and interviews with artists who played with her (pianist Mal Waldron, trumpeter Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison), Milt Gabler (owner of Commodore and a producer at Decca), author Albert Murray and vocalists Carmen McRae and Annie Ross.
Creative Consultant
The World According to John Coltrane is a documentary film about saxophonist John Coltrane
