Features

• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Performing Arts - Concerts   

Features

• Color
• Compilation
• NTSC

Reviews (2)

A must have, for any jazz buff
this is an incredible movie. I was so moved by this documentary that I buy them now to give to loved ones, and any one that I feel will appreciate it's grandeur. A must have for any jazz buff.

This is a classic!
The Director, Bruce Ricker, may not be a household name in film, but some impressive credits in recent Clint Eastwood films are telltale and their collaboration is the result of the excellent way in which he put this filmtogether.Read more

Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Music Video - Jazz    3. Pop   

Editorial Review

Clint Eastwood's moody, evocative direction and Forest Whitaker'sstrong, sensitive performance are the chief proponents to recommend an otherwise muted biopic of '40s jazz legend Charlie Parker, who fell victim to his chemical excesses and convinced the doctor who pronounced him dead that he was a good four decades older than he actually was. The film doesn't try to assign clear blame for Parker's demons, though the era's racism is addressed unflinchingly. Clearly a labor of love, Eastwood's movie structurally attempts to ape the angular music of bebop itself (there are flashbacks within flashbacks, which gets a little confusing), but doesn't quite capture the smolder of the period. Diane Venora registers strongly as Bird's wife, Chan, the woman who can'trescue Bird from the abyss into which he peers. Read more

Features

• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Dolby
• HiFi Sound
• NTSC

Reviews (27)

a self absorbed paean to a dead junkie who made good music
clint eastwood directed this labor of love about jazz great charlie parker. like most labors of love, its a failure in appealing to all but true devotees. i shall comment here about jazz buffs: there are no more obnoxious fans of any art form than the fans of jazz. it is perfectly fine that they choose to discuss among themselves arcana like recording dates, side men, and the like. all fans of various art forms do that in their own little world, but jazz buffs expect the rest of us to listen to them and are positively insulted when we begin to yawn. ok, back to the movie; speaking of yawns ...
Next to listening to his recordings, this is a fine tribute to a great jazz musician
I am not usually a big fan of bio-pics about genius musicians because it is impossible to "act" them playing.And, after all, it is their playing that we care about.However, Clint Eastwood brings so much affection and integrity to this film and Forest Whitaker has such a perfectly fit genius of his own for this role that I think it comes off quite well.
BIRD
Movie was bassed to much on his problems and not enough on his talent and how he developed it. Most of us knew about Parker's
Read more

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Feature Film-drama    3. Movie   

Features

• Color
• Compilation
• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Music Video - Jazz    3. Pop   

Editorial Review

This 1987 film represents the first substantial documentary devoted to virtuoso saxophonist and bebop icon Charlie Parker, whose wildly inventive style and hip charisma made him a legend well before his untimely death at 34.Parker's huge, ultimately self-destructive appetites and sad demise long ago confirmed him as a poster boy for the doomed romanticism associated with the jazz life, and arguably apotheosized in a number of the bop era's most brilliant players, but while the film doesn't ignore Parker's life as a long-term heroin addict, the portrait hews more closely to exploring his creative genesis. Read more

Features

• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (1)

Hmmm...
This DVD has no special features; no Charlie Parker discography or interview, which are common features on musical documentary and/or concert DVD's nowadays, but since it didn't read anywhere that it would feature anything special I guess I shouldn't be disappointed.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Bop    2. Jazz    3. Music Video - Jazz    4. Pop   

Features

• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (3)

VERY IMPORTANT
THis is a Great Documentry on The Genius that is Count Basie.He was One Of The Greatest Musicians Ever.His Bands Were always Tight.He was Such A Down Too Earth MAN.Very Essential.

Portrait of a Nice Guy
Don't expect a music video--it's a documentary, and an excellent one, much of it in Basie's own words and those of some of his best sidemen.No serious Basie fan should miss it.

More narration than music.
Thisis anarration ofBasie's life. Too much narration throughout thevideo and not enoughmusic.Thereis not one song played from beginning to end completely. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Big Band    2. Jazz    3. Jazz Music    4. Piano Blues    5. Pop    6. Swing    7. Trad Jazz   

Features

• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie    3. Music Video - Jazz   

Features

• Color
• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Music Video - Jazz    3. Pop   

Features

• Color
• Compilation
• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Music Video - Jazz    3. Pop    4. V/a Compilations   

Editorial Review

Clint Eastwood's moody, evocative direction and Forest Whitaker'sstrong, sensitive performance are the chief proponents to recommend an otherwise muted biopic of '40s jazz legend Charlie Parker, who fell victim to his chemical excesses and convinced the doctor who pronounced him dead that he was a good four decades older than he actually was. The film doesn't try to assign clear blame for Parker's demons, though the era's racism is addressed unflinchingly. Clearly a labor of love, Eastwood's movie structurally attempts to ape the angular music of bebop itself (there are flashbacks within flashbacks, which gets a little confusing), but doesn't quite capture the smolder of the period. Diane Venora registers strongly as Bird's wife, Chan, the woman who can'trescue Bird from the abyss into which he peers. Read more

Features

• PAL

Reviews (27)

a self absorbed paean to a dead junkie who made good music
clint eastwood directed this labor of love about jazz great charlie parker. like most labors of love, its a failure in appealing to all but true devotees. i shall comment here about jazz buffs: there are no more obnoxious fans of any art form than the fans of jazz. it is perfectly fine that they choose to discuss among themselves arcana like recording dates, side men, and the like. all fans of various art forms do that in their own little world, but jazz buffs expect the rest of us to listen to them and are positively insulted when we begin to yawn. ok, back to the movie; speaking of yawns ...
Next to listening to his recordings, this is a fine tribute to a great jazz musician
I am not usually a big fan of bio-pics about genius musicians because it is impossible to "act" them playing.And, after all, it is their playing that we care about.However, Clint Eastwood brings so much affection and integrity to this film and Forest Whitaker has such a perfectly fit genius of his own for this role that I think it comes off quite well.
BIRD
Movie was bassed to much on his problems and not enough on his talent and how he developed it. Most of us knew about Parker's
Read more

Editorial Review

Clint Eastwood's moody, evocative direction and Forest Whitaker'sstrong, sensitive performance are the chief proponents to recommend an otherwise muted biopic of '40s jazz legend Charlie Parker, who fell victim to his chemical excesses and convinced the doctor who pronounced him dead that he was a good four decades older than he actually was. The film doesn't try to assign clear blame for Parker's demons, though the era's racism is addressed unflinchingly. Clearly a labor of love, Eastwood's movie structurally attempts to ape the angular music of bebop itself (there are flashbacks within flashbacks, which gets a little confusing), but doesn't quite capture the smolder of the period. Diane Venora registers strongly as Bird's wife, Chan, the woman who can'trescue Bird from the abyss into which he peers. Read more

Features

• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (27)

a self absorbed paean to a dead junkie who made good music
clint eastwood directed this labor of love about jazz great charlie parker. like most labors of love, its a failure in appealing to all but true devotees. i shall comment here about jazz buffs: there are no more obnoxious fans of any art form than the fans of jazz. it is perfectly fine that they choose to discuss among themselves arcana like recording dates, side men, and the like. all fans of various art forms do that in their own little world, but jazz buffs expect the rest of us to listen to them and are positively insulted when we begin to yawn. ok, back to the movie; speaking of yawns ...
Next to listening to his recordings, this is a fine tribute to a great jazz musician
I am not usually a big fan of bio-pics about genius musicians because it is impossible to "act" them playing.And, after all, it is their playing that we care about.However, Clint Eastwood brings so much affection and integrity to this film and Forest Whitaker has such a perfectly fit genius of his own for this role that I think it comes off quite well.
BIRD
Movie was bassed to much on his problems and not enough on his talent and how he developed it. Most of us knew about Parker's
Read more

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Foreign Film - Spanish/Misc Sa    3. Movie   

Editorial Review

Clint Eastwood's moody, evocative direction and Forest Whitaker'sstrong, sensitive performance are the chief proponents to recommend an otherwise muted biopic of '40s jazz legend Charlie Parker, who fell victim to his chemical excesses and convinced the doctor who pronounced him dead that he was a good four decades older than he actually was. The film doesn't try to assign clear blame for Parker's demons, though the era's racism is addressed unflinchingly. Clearly a labor of love, Eastwood's movie structurally attempts to ape the angular music of bebop itself (there are flashbacks within flashbacks, which gets a little confusing), but doesn't quite capture the smolder of the period. Diane Venora registers strongly as Bird's wife, Chan, the woman who can'trescue Bird from the abyss into which he peers. Read more

Features

• PAL

Reviews (27)

a self absorbed paean to a dead junkie who made good music
clint eastwood directed this labor of love about jazz great charlie parker. like most labors of love, its a failure in appealing to all but true devotees. i shall comment here about jazz buffs: there are no more obnoxious fans of any art form than the fans of jazz. it is perfectly fine that they choose to discuss among themselves arcana like recording dates, side men, and the like. all fans of various art forms do that in their own little world, but jazz buffs expect the rest of us to listen to them and are positively insulted when we begin to yawn. ok, back to the movie; speaking of yawns ...
Next to listening to his recordings, this is a fine tribute to a great jazz musician
I am not usually a big fan of bio-pics about genius musicians because it is impossible to "act" them playing.And, after all, it is their playing that we care about.However, Clint Eastwood brings so much affection and integrity to this film and Forest Whitaker has such a perfectly fit genius of his own for this role that I think it comes off quite well.
BIRD
Movie was bassed to much on his problems and not enough on his talent and how he developed it. Most of us knew about Parker's
Read more