(Preview by Russell)
You wait an age then two, no, three come along at once. Just as the no. 38 bus comes into view you can be sure another one isn't far behind followed by another. As John Akomfrah's arthouse
film Precarity nears the end of its run at Baltic, two jazz
documentary films open in Bebop Spoken Here's heartland (aka the north east of
England). As Buddy Bolden (Precarity) departs (Oct 27), Ella and Miles
arrive this Friday (Oct 18).
Precarity imagines Buddy
Bolden. Jazz historians take the view that film footage of the legendary figure
simply doesn't exist. This is far from the case with Ella Fitzgerald and Miles
Davis. Two documentary films - Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those
Things and Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool - released
this year draw upon the moving image to illustrate the story, the legend, of
Ella and Miles. Familiar names offer insights and, of course, there is the
music.
Director Leslie Woodhead interviews
Ray Brown Jr. (Ella's adopted son) and other talking heads including Jamie
Cullum and Laura Mvula. Sally Evans-Darby's Jazz Journal online review suggests
a high point is hearing sixteen year old Alexis Morrast singing A-Tisket,
A-Tasket on the same Harlem Apollo Theater stage as did Ella back in
1934. Ella: Just One of Those Things will be screened at
7:00pm on Friday at Hexham's Forum Cinema.
Stanley Nelson's documentary features
a host of names who worked with, knew or met Miles Dewey Davis...Ron Carter,
Jimmy Cobb, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter featured on seminal recordings
with Miles, all have their say. Jimmy Heath and Quincy Jones offer insight, so
too Juliette Gréco, Lee Konitz and the man once touted as successor to the
great man, Wallace Roney. Writers/biographers Stanley Crouch, Ashley Kahn and
Quincy Troupe contribute their expertise as does nephew Vince Wilburn
Jr.. Miles: Birth of the Cool opens at the Tyneside Cinema on
Friday (8:30pm), further screenings include Saturday (5:45pm) and Sunday
(3:00pm). Later in the month (Monday 28) the recently opened Everyman Cinema on
Grey Street, Newcastle will show the film at eight o'clock.
Russell
No comments :
Post a Comment