Passing the Torch(2016)

What Difference Does It Make?(en)

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

Komeda, Komeda...(pl)

A feature- length documentary on the life and work of jazz musician and composer Krzysztof Komeda.

Daybreak Express(en)

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

Miles Davis Live At Tanglewood 1970(en)

Miles Davis performing live at Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood Massachusetts on August 18, 1970. Miles Davis tp / Chick Corea el-p / Keith Jarrett org / Gary Bartz ss, as / Dave Holland el-b / Jack DeJohnette dr / Airto Moreira perc 1. Directions 2. Bitches Brew 3. The Mask 4. It's About That Time 5. Sanctuary 6. Spanish Key 7. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down

Earl "Fatha" Hines - Blues Alley, Washington DC(en)

A 1975 documentary on the great Blues pianist Earl Hines, one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano.

Step N' Soul(de)

Oscar(en)

Brilliantly mixing animated sequences and archival footage, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre paints a touching portrait of virtuoso pianist Oscar Peterson.

THE HISTORY OF JAZZ. WHAT IS JAZZ? (Documentary)(en)

At the beginning of the 20th century, a new direction in music appeared in America. Although the word "jazz" came into use only in 1913, this music, distinguished by its loudness, audacity, and riot, was heard on the streets of New Orleans at least ten years earlier. Jazz possessed special rhythmic energy never seen before in folk music. In addition, jazz was bold and unpredictable - the same song sounded different with each performance, and this only made jazz attractive. The musicians improvised, following the inspiration and adapting the melody to the sounds of other instruments playing with them on stage.

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)(en)

During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.

Django Reinhardt, trois doigts de génie(fr)

Noble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime(en)

Combining footage unseen since WWI with original scores from the era, this film tells the story of Noble Sissle's incredible journey that spans "The Harlem Hellfighters" of World War I, Broadway Theatre, the Civil Rights movement, and decades of Black cultural development.

Moor Mother: Jazz Codes(en)

Buster Williams Bass to Infinity(en)

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 - Miles, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Art Blakey, and on. In this intimate portrait, Buster trades stories, and plays, with some of the world's greatest musicians - Benny Golson, Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride and others, and takes us on a journey through his life, legacy, and America's greatest art form - the truly universal music called Jazz.

Saxophone Colossus(en)

Tenor saxophone master Sonny Rollins has long been hailed as one of the most important artists in jazz history, and still, today, he is viewed as the greatest living jazz improviser. In 1986, filmmaker Robert Mugge produced Saxophone Colossus, a feature-length portrait of Rollins, named after one of his most celebrated albums.

Nalen(sv)

Documentary about legendary Swedish jazz club "Nalen" featuring interviews with old musicians and singers, and old clips from the place in its glory days

In the Footsteps of Bembeya Jazz(en)

A portrait of the mythical band Bembeya Jazz, which contributed to the heyday of Sekou Touré’s cultural revolution in Guinea. Created in 1961 in the heart of the rainforest, Bembeya Jazz rapidly became modern Africa’s greatest orchestra. 50 years later, immerse yourself in the history of a legend that livers on!

Violent Jazz from the North(fi)

Finland has long been the promised land for long hair and heavy rock music, however jazz has it’s own place here too! Then again maybe jazz is just the general name we give to music we can’t quite classify. And the original soundscapes brought forth by guitarist Heikki Ruokangas are just that; hard to classify. In Ruokangas’ creations, elements of jazz meld together with the strums and tweaks of modern classic guitars to create an aggressive medley of sound. The end result is a skillful and intense break from traditional guitar song.

Toronto Jazz(en)

Toronto is regarded as the third largest jazz centre in North America. This film features a cross-section of jazz bands of that city: the Lenny Breau Trio, the Don Thompson Quintet and the Alf Jones Quartet. Their styles show creative self-expression, hard work, and improvisation.

Stop for Bud(da)

Stop for Bud is Jørgen Leth's first film and the first in his long collaboration with Ole John. […] they wanted to "blow up cinematic conventions and invent cinematic language from scratch". The jazz pianist Bud Powell moves around Copenhagen -- through King's Garden, along the quay at Kalkbrænderihavnen, across a waste dump. […] Bud is alone, accompanied only by his music. […] Image and sound are two different things -- that's Leth's and John's principle. Dexter Gordon, the narrator, tells stories about Powell's famous left hand. In an obituary for Powell, dated 3 August 1966, Leth wrote: "He quite willingly, or better still, unresistingly, mechanically, let himself be directed. The film attempts to depict his strange duality about his surroundings. His touch on the keys was like he was burning his fingers -- that's what it looked like, and that's how it sounded. But outside his playing, and often right in the middle of it, too, he was simply gone, not there."

Jazz: The Only Way of Life(en)

Dizzy Gillespie is one of the major figures of the 20th Century's music scene. Everything was once said or written about this genius musician, founder of the Bebop. Whereas his public life is known from most, many ignore about the modest side of his character and the story of his long and deep friendship with a man rather unknown from the general public, the Swiss engineer Jacques Muyal. Through previously unrevealed archives as well as musical extracts, this documentary explores the story of the friendship between a genius trumpeter and a man crazy about Jazz.