Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), Let's Get Lost (1989), Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (1985), Ray (2004), Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988), A Great Day in Harlem (1994), A Tuba to Cuba (2018), I Called Him Morgan (2016) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Jazz movies.
Storyline: Born to be Blue starring Ethan Hawke is a re-imagining of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker's life in the 60's. When Chet stars in a film about himself, a romance heats up with his costar, the enigmatic Jane (Carmen Ejogo). Production is shelved when Chet's past comes back to haunt him and it appears he may never play music again but Jane challenges him to mount a musical comeback against all the odds.—Leonard Farlinger
Plot Keywords: musician, jazz musician, trumpeter, love interest, moving, emotional, engaging ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Gangster's moll Honey Swanson goes into hiding when her boyfriend is under investigation by the police. Where better to hide than a musical research institute staffed entirely by lonely bachelors? She gets more than she bargained for when the head of the institute Professor Hobart Frisbee starts to fall for her.—Col Needham <col@imdb.com>
Plot Keywords: professor, music teacher, musician, janitor, singer, gangster, amusing ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: "Possibilities" is an intimate documentary about Herbie Hancock and his in-studio collaborations with a dozen formidable pop recording artists, collaborations that explore the unexpected, like jazz improvisations. The film is also about how Herbie's unique world view shapes a creative environment that encourages artists to step outside the velvet prison of easy expectations. "The hip stuff," Herbie tells Trey Anastasio, in a scene from the film, "is outside the comfort zone." "Possibilities" follows Herbie over a year and a half collaborating with musical icons Carlos Santana, Sting, Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox and Paul Simon, young superstars Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio and Jonny Lang and newcomers Joss Stone, Raul Midon, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan. The film also puts Herbie's latest work in the context of his extraordinary musical career, and includes rarely seen archival footage of Herbie with the Miles Davis Quintet in 1962; Herbie leading his Headhunters with their hit tune, "Chameleon"; Herbie's classic video for "Rockit"; and never-before-seen duets of Herbie and Wayne Shorter playing for peace in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the atomic explosions.—Max Whiteside <RavenWerkheiserHexorcist>
Plot Keywords: musician, cool, confident, creative, recording studio, music, jazz ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The Fabulous Baker Boys, a Seattle-based duo piano lounge act performing cheesy jazz renditions of pop standards, is comprised of thirty-something brothers Frank and Jack Baker. Older Frank, married with two children, is the controlling business manager, front man and sole programmer of the playlist. Younger Jack is the carefree one without commitments to anything or anyone, including women, he who has had a long string of one night stands, most specifically with cocktail waitresses. Jack's strongest commitments are to his aging dog, Eddie, and to Nina, the lonely adolescent who lives in the apartment above his with her single, constantly dating mother. Jack's commitment to Nina is because of her unwavering commitment to him. The Baker Boys' act is becoming stale and outdated, and as such their ability to hold onto what gigs they are able to get is getting more difficult. So Frank comes up with the idea of hiring a singer to beef up the act. After thirty-seven failed auditions, they ...
Plot Keywords: brother, musician, singer, wife, child, dog, sultry ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: "Jigger' Lane forms a band that includes singer Ginger 'Character' Powell, wife of the trumpeter Leo Powell, and Nickie Haroyen and Peppi. All of them dedicate themselves to work as a unit and to play 'blues' music. The dedication isn't paying off in money and, while riding the rails in a boxcar, they meet and befriend a gangster named Del Davis. He offers them a job at a New Jersey roadhouse, where Powell falls in love with Kay Grant, a former 'real-good friend' of Davis. But when Powell learns that 'Character' is about to have a baby, he returns to her. "Jigger" tries to make Kay the band's singer and, when this fails, runs off with her. She leaves him with nothing to show for him except a nervous breakdown.Back at the roadhouse, after his recovery, Kay shows up, has a quarrel with Davis, shoots and kills him and plans to take back up with "Jigger", who knows better but just can't help himself. While she is waiting in a car for him, along comes cripple Brad Ames, who she put in that condition, and he gets in and drives the car over a cliff, leaving no survivors in the two-passenger crash. The band is back together at the end, still using boxcars as their transportation, but happy playing the blues.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: convict, jazz musician, jazz singer, femme fatale, pianist, dark, quirky ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Toni Le Brun, a beautiful Viennese singer, becomes the ward of the wardrobe mistress of a Monte Carlo nightclub. Her benefactor, however, is actually a baroness incognito. Toni falls in love with the handsome Richard, but as they prepare to marry, she comes to believe he is only after the wealth accompanying her new noble status. But truth, like true love, will not be kept secret long.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: singer, patron, baroness, club owner, amusing, charming, passionate ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A woman misses the 1:30 train from New York to Boston and a street musician spends the night trying to help her make it back home before her husband does. Throughout the night they learn a lot about one another and eventually find a romance.
Plot Keywords: man, woman, married woman, cheater, musician, stranger, trumpeter ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike the U.S. at the time, jazz musicians are celebrated, and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to the U.S. with them or stay in Paris for the freedom it allows them. Ram, who wants to be a serious composer, finds Paris too exciting and is reluctant to give up his music for a relationship, and Eddie wants to stay for the city's more tolerant racial atmosphere.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: jazz musician, tourist, expatriate, love interest, friend, emotional, intricate ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The young Benny Goodman is taught clarinet by a Chicago music professor. He is advised by bandleader Kid Ory to play whichever kind of music he likes best, but to make a living, Benny begins by joining the Ben Pollack traveling band.
Plot Keywords: musician, mother, father, critic, sister, heartwarming, inspiring ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Opens with Bleek as a child learning to play the trumpet, his friends want him to come out and play but mother insists he finish his lessons. Bleek grows into adulthood and forms his own band - The Bleek Gilliam Quartet. The story of Bleek's and Shadow's friendly rivalry on stage which spills into their professional relationship and threatens to tear apart the quartet.—David <DGOWERS6@CHECLABA.SCU.EDU.AU>
Plot Keywords: saxophonist, trumpeter, manager, teacher, singer, friend, cool ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A trumpet player, self-destructive after the death of his wife and child in a fire, befriends a crippled youngster and together they battle obstacles through each other's encouragement.
Plot Keywords: musician, young boy, friend, hotel owner, emotional, touching, hotel ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Beverly Ross moderates an 5:30 am radio show with swing music, dedicated to the local servicemen. Two buddies of her brother have a chance to meet her and both fall in love. One of them is a wealthy sponser, the other used to be his chauffeur, but before she can decide, which of them she likes more, the soldiers have their marching orders and are away to their destination.—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords: disc jockey, millionaire, chauffeur, station manager, soldier, charming, witty ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people who visited the club, those who ran it, and is peppered with the Jazz music that made it so famous.
Plot Keywords: actor, musician, beautiful woman, gangster, brother, dancer, emotional ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: An exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis.
Plot Keywords: musician, trumpeter, journalist, lover, manager, girlfriend, muse ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. They struggle to get their jazz music accepted by the cafe society of the city. Betty Lou joins their band as a singer and gets Louie to show her how to do scat singing. Memphis and Jeff both fall in love with Betty Lou.—Lisa Grable <grable@unity.ncsu.edu>
Plot Keywords: band leader, trumpeter, singer, aunt, gangster, friend, confident ...
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