Well, it was hard to beat the story about Dowd himself! Here is a physicist who works on the Manhattan Project and then becomes a sound engineer. Nothing really all that odd about that, but for someone with an engineering mind to have such a deep understanding of all genres of music, to have the ability to pick out an out of tune string on an instrument that is playing with others, and to intuitively know what works and what doesn’t, is nothing short of amazing.
Young Man With a Horn is supposedly about Bix Beiderbecke. I never heard of the guy until I watched the Kirk Douglas film.
Does The Jazz Singer count? I ask only because all the music is so utterly different from what I think of as “jazz.”
Legendary director Jack Webb was a jazz fan and had a radio series, a movie and a tv series called “Pete Kelly’s Blues”
We watched the Les Paul film the other day. I’d forgotten what an absolutely gorgeous voice Mary Ford had, and what a virtuoso Paul was on the guitar. The man was not only a great inventor, but a great musician. Even with all the overdubbing, both their talents shine.
Well stated. I think what is cool is that Ford’s voice was so clear and precise that Les could layer harmonies on top and they’d work - he couldn’t go back and undo it (he didn’t have separate tracks to tweak and combine; just the ability to lay down new layers of sound on top of the already-recorded layers, at first), so Mary really had to deliver.
She was one of those singers like Roy Orbison who appeared to do it effortlessly, with impeccable phrasing and that beautiful alto voice. That they recorded many of their tunes in their apartment instead of in a studio is nothing short of astonishing.
I bought a DVD with Ben Webster gigs and a half-assed biographical film on it. The real revelation (to me) on this disk was the amazing horn of Charlie Shavers. I don’t think I’d ever heard of him before, but he rivals any trumpeter I’ve heard.
I’m no jazz expert, but enjoyed Jazz on a Summer’s Day, recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival. The opening credits feature the Jimmy Giuffre Three, and I like this as much as anything else in the movie. Love it, in fact. The fact that Giuffre, whom I had never heard of, looks like an insurance salesman only adds to the appeal. These guys can really play.
I thought “The Universal Mind of Bill Evans” was pretty eye-opening – it’s not a documentary, though, exactly. A lengthy interview with him demonstrating concepts on the piano. No idea if it’s available and in what format – at least some of it’s on YouTube, but it’s a pretty long piece, and I don’t know if it’s all up.
There was a great one on Trane, but I can’t remember which one it was I’m thinking of.
I know this isn’t what you’re asking for, but I feel compelled to throw **Sweet and Lowdown **into the mix. It’s a faux documetary/biopic about a fictional early jazz guitarist with some great music and acting. You know, just for variety.
And it’s a decent primer on gypsy jazz guitar style.