List Price: $29.95 Our Price: $26.96YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
DVD New Orleans
This little-seen, 1947 drama is a treat for jazz fans, thanks to an otherwise creaky, if nobly intentioned story built around the music's Crescent City genesis that provides an ample excuse to turn the camera on authentic jazz greats. Nick Duquesne (Arturo De Cordova) is a Bourbon Street charmer whose gambling club provides the mythic stomping grounds for none other than Louis Armstrong, whose vocalizing sweetheart Endie, played by none other than Billie Holiday, proves no slouch herself. A newly arrived debutante, Miralee (Dorothy Patrick), arrives in New Orleans and falls first for the music and then for the roguish but ultimately gallant Nick. The movie follows knee-jerk plot machinations revolving around her family's efforts to excise Nick from her life, her own dream of mingling jazz and classical music, and the gambler's transformation into a jazz promoter.
The script works in the squalor and much of the geography of Storyville and the French Quarter, even providing a contrasting look at the genteel parlor music being played in "respectable" casinos, and the casting telegraphs the production's reverence for jazz. Satchmo's other musical partners are equally serendipitous, including Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, Bud Scott, Zutty Singleton, Meade "Lux" Lewis, and Red Callender. A brief arc late in the film adds Woody Herman and his orchestra.
When the musicians are featured, New Orleans is a frequent delight, with Armstrong as magnetic as always, and Holiday endearing. As an actress, she's a terrific singer, and luckily Lady Day's dialogue is far briefer than her featured vocals. The DVD version boasts additional period shorts showcasing Armstrong (1932's "A Rhapsody in Black and Blue") and Holiday's "Symphony in Black" from 1935). --Sam Sutherland
I have always found jazz performances much more captivating live rather than recorded, and although I can't travel back in time and see Louis Armstrong play during his prime, this video is the next best thing.
The makers of New Orleans did not waste the talents of the musicians, and a good chunk of the movie is concert footage of many of the giants from the golden age of Jazz including Kid Ory, Woody Herman and Billie Holiday doing old standards such as Basin Street Blues and Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans.
These performances truly convey the joy that enrapt the musicians as they played, and Armstrong in particular, is irresistably charming and funny as usual and appears for much of the film.
Unfortunately, Holiday is possibly the most wooden actress I have ever seen, but since for most of her comparatively short screen time is spent singing, it isn't a problem.
I strongly recommended this one to all fans of early jazz.
Who knows
What are the names of the classical music songs and the jazz by Woody Herman?
Silly plot, fantastic music
I bought this DVD blindly just because I'm such a fan of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and of New Orleans in general. The plot (what there is of it) is clichÂd and uninteresting, but the music is fantastic, and I ended up playing the musical pieces over and over. The entire movie is filmed on a Hollywood soundstage; if you're looking for shots of old New Orleans, look elsewhere.
Hollywood Rhythm: The Best of Jazz & Blues (Vol. 1) is a time capsule from another era, stuffed with tuneful artifacts. With the coming of sound to film, the excitement of hearing recorded music at the movies prompted these shorts, which date from 1929 to 1941. This collection, mostly from the Paramount vaults, begins with the 1932 "Rhapsody in Black and Blue," starring Louis Armstrong (a rather notorious film discussed in Ken Burns's Jazz). Racial stereotyping is rampant in some of these pieces, and this one has Armstrong dressed in leopard skins while playing trumpet in heaven. Absurd, yet Armstrong's performance is over-the-moon exhilarating. Three shorts respectfully showcase the composing genius of Duke Ellington, including 1935's "Symphony in Black," featuring a vocal... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Fred Waller DVD Release Date: Released the 15 February 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $29.95 Your Price: $26.96YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
At the Jazz Band Ball features rare, archival film clips from 1925 to 1933 that showcase a wonderful potpourri of musicians, bandleaders, singers, dancers, and entertainers that characterized the best of the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age. The range of this collection represents early 20th-century Americana, from the hometown charm of the Boswell sisters performing the jazz-scat classic "Heebie Jeebies" to the Al Jolson-like antics of Charly Wellman's take on "Alabamy Snow." Of course, jazz is the heartbeat of this pre-World War II time and it's manifested in many ways. There's the classical sophistication of Paul Whiteman's orchestra rendition of "My Ohio Home" with the young trumpet pioneer Bix Beiderbecke, and the elegant and enduring Duke Ellington swinging like... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Louis Armstrong DVD Release Date: Released the 11 April 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $17.98YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
The Duke knew he had a sensation, he just never allowed her to fly to new hights; until he encouraged her to go and adventure out on her own. But he had to trick her, in order for her to take him seriously. He knew she would knock them dead with her beautiful singing voice. Ms. Lena Horne did just that. The Duke also knew that he wasn't a good show producer without her. This is a must see film. Done in 1938, the picture is a clear b&w classic. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Roy Mack DVD Release Date: Released the 14 November 2000 THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE. If you would like to purchase this title, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.
List Price: $19.95 Your Price: $17.96YOU SAVE $1.99!
Buy it
The musical shorts collected on Hollywood Rhythm: The Best of Big Bands and Swing (Vol. 2) are delightful, but purists may note that these pieces only occasionally intersect with either big band or swing music. "Artie Shaw's Class in Swing," which deconstructs the elements of the big band sound, qualifies on both counts. What really comes shining through on this collection is the sheer weirdness of early-sound short films, caught somewhere between the slapstick of silent comedy and the music video of the future. How else to explain 1932's "The Musical Doctor," a surreal vehicle for Rudy Vallee, in which the 1920s crooner plays a physician prescribing music for health?
Some great stars are seen early in their careers, including Bing Crosby doing one of his signature tunes,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Casey Robinson DVD Release Date: Released the 15 February 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $29.95 Your Price: $26.96YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
Given the often inextricable relationship between art and suffering, it's no coincidence that Billie Holiday, popularly acclaimed as jazz's greatest (if not technically best) female singer, was also one of its most tragic figures. While both triumph and tragedy are covered in this hourlong documentary, we are mercifully spared excessive details about the more sordid aspects of Holiday's life (her drug and alcohol addictions, her disastrous relationships with abusive men) in favor of careful consideration of her music. Testimonials are offered by those who played with her (pianist Mal Waldron and trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison), were influenced or inspired by her (singers Carmen McRae and Annie Ross), or worked with her (producer Milt Gabler). Together, they paint a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Billie Holiday - Carmen McRae DVD Release Date: Released the 28 November 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $29.95 Your Price: $26.96YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
