La fabuleuse histoire du jazz à Vienne

The emblematic festival Jazz à Vienne welcomes each year more than 200 000 festival-goers and 1000 artists. This documentary retraces the history and relives the highlights of the festival, since its creation in 1981 by Jean-Paul Boutellier, Jean Gueffier, Pierre Domeyne, Jean-Pierre Vignola and George Wein. The greatest jazz musicians have performed there, such as Miles Davis, Michel Petrucciani, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Lionel Hampton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie. So much so that in four decades, Jazz à Vienne has become one of the most important jazz festivals in the world, open to all styles.

FUNCTION

As seen and heard by... the Standing on the corner art ensemble, an "Exhibition" Index Film

Standards I/II

Swingonometry

Three female performers – pianist Renara, tap-dancer Irene Cutter and singer Shirley Lenner – are supported by Harry Parry and his band in this short film. Cinema audiences were cheered up through WWII by entertaining revue films such as this.

Sweet and Lowdown

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Eric Clapton: Live at Budokan

Eric Clapton: Live at Budokan

Low Down

The daughter of jazz pianist Joe Albany witnesses her beloved father's struggle -- and failure -- to kick his heroin habit.

Whiplash

Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.

A Night In Havana: Dizzy Gillespie In Cuba

A documentary on Dizzy Gillespie's landmark visit to Cuba and his performance at the Fifth International Jazz Festival in Havana, Cuba. Filmed in 1985 with Arturo Sandoval and Sayyd Abdul Al Khabyyr.

Crazy

Crazy is the story of a legendary guitar player who emerged from Nashville in the 1950s. Blessed with incomparable, natural talent, Hank Garland quickly established his reputation as the finest sessions player in Nashville.

Gregory Porter: One Night Only - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Gregory Porter One Night Only – Live at the Royal Albert Hall captures the two-time GRAMMY-winning singer in a stunning live performance at the famed London venue with his band accompanied by the London Studio Orchestra conducted and arranged by Vince Mendoza. Porter sings songs from his acclaimed recent album Nat King Cole & Me, as well as favorite songs of his own including “Hey Laura,” “No Love Dying,” “Don’t Lose Your Steam,” and “When Love Was King.”

End of the Rainbow

A bittersweet musical drama set in London centers around a dejected jazz musician who is on the edge. He perceives a cold, black and white existence. In his heart there remains a ray of hope that will transport him to a warm and colorful world. Through the music, his spirit is renewed, if only for an instant, at the end of the rainbow.

Space Is the Place

Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return to Earth after several years in space. Ra proclaims himself "the alter-destiny", meets with inner-city youths and battles with the devil himself to save the black race.

Jasper in a Jam

In this entertaining Puppetoon animated short film, a young boy, Jasper, gets trapped inside a pawnshop at midnight. All the musical instruments come to life and play jazz. A whooping wooden Indian chief self-animates as well, and goes on the warpath.

What Difference Does It Make?

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

Legends – Live At Montreux

Legends is one of the most musically accomplished groups of all time. With Eric Clapton on guitar, Joe Sample of The Crusaders on keyboards, virtuoso saxophone player David Sanborn and super session players Steve Gadd on drums and Marcus Miller on bass, the group's pedigree is extraordinary. They never made an album and this concert at Montreux is the only record of their stunning collaboration.

The Glenn Miller Story

A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.

Weird Nightmare

A tribute to Charles Mingus.

Daybreak Express

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.

Ray

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.