Charles Mingus

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.

Jazz is a ten part series that explores the evolution – and the genius – of America’s greatest original art form, focusing on the extraordinary men and women who could do something remarkable – create art on the spot. Jazz celebrates their profoundly enduring, endlessly varied, and infinitely alluring music in the context of the complicated country that gave birth to and influenced it, and was in turn transformed by it.

The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh, and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was.

Over the course of one eventful evening, the anniversary celebration of the musical and romantic partners Aurelius Rex and Delia Lane, a jealous, ambitious drummer, Johnny Cousin, attempts to tear the interracial couple apart.

‘Lady Day’ was one of the greatest jazz vocalists the world ever heard. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. The tapes have never been heard. Now they form the basis of an atmospheric, multi-layered documentary that captures the many complex facets of a proud black woman, violent drug addict, loyal friend, vindictive lover and unforgettable singer of ‘God Bless The Child’, ‘Saddest Tale’ and the haunting ‘Strange Fruit’.

A close-up of bass player and composer Charlie Mingus as he and his five-year-old daughter await eviction by the City of New York.

Stations of the Elevated exposes viewers to an underground art scene- that is, one found exclusively on the sides of subways and train cars. A moving portrait of late-70's NYC, the film boasts a soundtrack by jazz legends Charles Mingus & Aretha Franklin.

A tribute to Charles Mingus.

Don McGlynn's uncompromising and soulful documentary look at the tumultuous life of musician and rebel Charles Mingus is fascinating stuff. Mingus said of himself "I am half black man, half yellow man, but I claim to be a Negro. I am Charles Mingus, the famed jazz musician--but not famed enough to make a living in America." His statement summed up the conflict that plagued this musical genius his entire life: volatility, pain, prescience, and raw rage roiled inside a complex man, composer, bass player, and trombonist who transcended labels and refused to be pigeonholed into a single musical style--and who did not achieve real fame until late in his career.

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, flute and bass clarinet). Recorded within an eight-day span, less than three months before Dolphy's death, the three concerts showcase Mingus's visionary leadership and the band's incredible depth and diversity with unique performances and arrangements of classics including "So Long Eric" and the groundbreaking "Meditations On Integration".

After his first breakup, Marc, a film student, goes with Laia on a trip to the south of France to see if he can get over his ex. The emotions appear but Marc feels at a standstill.

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Description by D.A Pennebaker: "This movie is something of a mystery. Timothy Leary was getting married to a model named Nena Von Schlebrugge up in Millbrook, New York at the Hitchcock house, where Leary had been carrying on his hallucinogenic revelries for the past year or so after leaving Harvard. It was rumored that this was going to be the wedding of the season, the wedding of Mr. And Mrs. Swing as Cab Calloway put it. Blackwood took me downtown to meet Monte Rock III who was singing at Trudy Heller’s but who was also a very pricey and off-the-wall hairdresser and was in fact going to be doing the bride’s hair. Nena’s brother, Bjorn, known as the “Baron” was a friend of the Hitchcock’s, as was I, and the idea of going along and filming the wedding seemed not unwarranted. I’ve always wanted to film someone getting married."

Music can change the lives of those who listen to it. This was the case for author Noël Balen, who was inspired to write a collection of poems, accompanied by a record, as a tribute to legendary double bassist Charles Mingus. A genuine work of art, this documentary filmed in black and white hooks us into the bewitching world of jazz. Artists and singers give voice to Balen’s poems, accompanied by the immortal music of Mingus. A dazzling musical voyage, as bold as it is inventive.

Live in Norway at University Hall, University Of Oslo, April 12, 1964

The clown is set into motion by two unidentified persons lurking behind it, in the shadows. Oblivious, the clown embarks on its metaphoric life journey. The clown is only successful when a series of calamities bring about is demise, and ultimately, his death.

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A documentary about the weeks leading up to the early death of jazz legend Eric Dolphy. Centered around his last month alive and the titular record done in Holland with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink, the documentary traces his LA roots up through the last Charles Mingus tour that led Dolphy to stay in Europe in 1964. The interviews are with a host of contemporaries like Richard Davis, Ted Curson, Nathan Davis and those involved in the Last Date recording. The rare archival footage of Dolphy is riveting. The pictures provided by friends and family also show an intense young man whose future success was assured.

Charles Mingus was one of the greatest jazz bassists of all time, but most of all he was an innovative composer and a leader with a clear vision of what he wanted and where his music had to go. In 1975 he made his first appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, accompanied by musicians who had worked with him on the albums 'Changes One' and 'Changes Two', two milestones of music, from which the pieces performed in the show were taken. At the end of the concert, the band is joined by two special guests: the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and Benny Bailey on trumpet.

Conductor Gunther Schuller leads 30 renowned musicians in this spectacular world-premiere performance of Charles Mingus's epic composition, "Epitaph," filmed at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989. Clocking in at more than two hours long, the landmark piece was unearthed only after the jazz legend's death in 1979. The orchestra includes such musical luminaries as Wynton Marsalis, Lew Soloff, Bobby Watson and Urbie Green.