Movies: Jazz singer or musician

A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom....

Take an in-depth look at the life and talent of the trailblazing musician who conquered racial barriers to leave an indelible mark on the jazz world....

Johannes, a doctor of physics, travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Alps. A series of mysterious incidents occur on site. He meets Karin, a mysterious jazz pianist who seems to know more about him than she can know. Su...

It's 1959 in a seedy bar in Philadelphia, and Billie Holiday is giving one of her last performances interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music 4 months before her death....

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 feat...

In Germany, jazz had a voice: Inge Brandenburg. This is the story of a woman in the 1950s and 1960s, when there was no place in Germany for self-assured women with international aspirations, a dramatic performance style and an emancipated attitude to...

It’s the second semester of junior year for Pierce “Sparni” Sparnroft, a gifted jazz vibraphonist studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Sparni’s prospects on the vibes were rejuvenated by their new professor, the world-renowned Steve ...

Kalle Magnus Berg is a kind bailiff in Gamla Stan (Old Town) in Stockholm. He helps out "clients" by supporting them with money from his own pocket. His neighbor is a jazz musician who plays at a restaurant for a living....

Few jazz musicians are as exuberant at their advanced age as Stéphane Grappelli in this concert. In this program, the old master plays in an ensemble reminiscent of the famous Hot Club de France, the ensemble Grappelli led with Django Reinhardt in th...

This is the story of three men in their 40s, confronted with their limits and three younger women who are usurping the old order. They are all gathered under the sun in Ardèche to shoot a film that will not happen....

In this intimate portrait—produced for a segment of National Education Television's "Black Journal" television program—legendary jazz musician Alice Coltrane plays the harp and discusses her thoughts on music, spirituality, family, and the legacy of ...

In this short film, prominent jazz musicians of the 1940s gather for a rare filming of a jam session. This highly stylized chronicle features tenor sax legend Lester Young....

22-year-old Miles Davis embarks on a transformative trip to Paris in 1949, where he falls into a passionate romance with Juliette Gréco, the French singer, actress, and Left Bank icon. What begins as an intimate affair blossoms into a profound connec...

Set in 1947, Knights of Swing is a feature film that chronicles a group of young jazz musicians whose dream is to form a “really swingin’ Big Band”. Unfortunately, things prove much more complicated when the community objects to the diversity of the...

Satchmo. There are few people in this country - or around the world - who will not recognize that name. Louis Armstrong embodied 20th-century American culture. He revolutionized the world of music and became one of the nation's most influential enter...

A jazz pianist is haunted by his dead ex-lover's crawling hand and floating head....

Charles Mingus showcases three exceptional concerts performed in April 1964 featuring his most celebrated lineup--Jaki Byard (piano), Dannie Richmond (drums), Johnny Coles (trumpet), Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) and the great Eric Dolphy (alto sax, fl...

Examines the legacy, cultural impact, and body of work of American R&B/punk/jazz/soul/disco band Earth, Wind & Fire, and will feature exclusive access to the band’s archives of visual, audio, and written material, as well as the support of the estate...

An aspiring musician arrives in New York in search of fame and fortune. He soon meets a taxi dancer, moves in with her, and before too long a romance develops....

In the 1950s, Gabriel, a talented young pianist, plays in the quartet of his father, Georges, a famous jazz virtuoso at the peak of his career. In the midst of his concerts, Gabriel searches for the words to tell his father about his need for freedom...