things and people

Things should be used and people should be loved. The problem is that nowadays we often tend to love things and use people.

building peace with arms in Middle East

Now when the Middle East needs peace more than ever, Mr Cameron has gone there on business trip to promote arms trade and to lobby for the top 6 British arms manufacturers. WTF?????? Is this now how Tories plan to revitalize British economy at the expense of peace in Middle East?? Disgusting. Hypocritical.

interpretation of expectations of the people in the Middle East

I have dual feeling when following the events currently taking place around the Middle East. From one side, there is this strong empathy to people living under dictatorship rule whose individual freedom and human rights have been limited for decades. There is no way to deny support to this series of non-violent revolutions as it is freedom what they are calling for. I truly hope that the will of people will win without bloodshed.

From the other side, i am worried that this popular peaceful unrest and dissatisfaction with the political regime just like in early 1990s in Eastern Europe will be misinterpreted by the West and understood as dissatisfaction also with the economic regime, which is clearly not the same. People in Middle East now just like people 20 years ago in Eastern Europe are calling for freedom and democracy and if you listen carefully – they are not calling for market liberalization, privatization, free trade, public cuts etc etc. But just wait and see,  as soon as political change will take place, IMF and WB will arrive, give some handsome loans and by using the momentum will try to enforce market liberalization as if it is an integral part of freedom and democracy. it is not. For a very long time different approaches have been used (think of Iran and occupation of Iraq)  to get access to Middle East resources (just think of oil alone!), but so far dictatorships though as bad they can be have limited the chances of big multinational corporations to get a slice of this bonanza. People in Middle East should be really careful now regarding 1) what they are calling for, 2) what price they are paying and in whose interest. As the experience shows it is easy to sell out one’s country when being euphoric about the long-awaited freedom and democracy. Just in 20 years this freedom may become a dependence on foreign capital, ruined national business and import driven economy.

my top of jazz movies and films

Though this is definitely not a complete list of movies and films about jazz, this is what I have seen and recommend personally to anyone loving jazz music. It can always be debatable to what extent the story about the life of musician is reflecting the reality (fiction vs non-fiction), but still it gives you a good insight into the jazz world and behind the scene area.

Bird – 1988

A movie about one of the greatest jazz musicians – saxophone players – Charlie Parker. Little movie trailer available here.

Mo Better Blues – 1990

This movie is not a biographic story of one particular musician,  but it is story about Bleek following him through his childhood years when he was forced to play trompet while his friends were playing games outside till his adulthood, when he becomes a professional jazz musician and goes through all kinds of challenges.

Denzel Washington is playing the main role.

Here is the tune ‚Mo Better Blues“ as an episode from this movie.

Jazz – 2001

If I have to name the best, most comprehensive, educational film about jazz, then my choice is this Ken Burns‘ film Jazz. A series of 10 films in a chronological order takes you through the jazz from its very beginnings back in the 18th century during the age of slavery up to the modern times giving an excellent insight into the birth of jazz and its continuous development. I like that the musicians here are shown not only as individual artists but as a part of the time they were living in and all the socio, economic and political context within which they lived and formed their art and expressed their ideas through music.

Here you can get a taster. Also, it was a true pleasure to find Wynton Marsalis as an excellent jazz story teller and interpretator and, I would even say, historian of jazz.

Lady Sings the Blues – 1972

This movie is a biographic story about Billie Holiday, legendary blues singer, the rise and fall of her career. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured. Billie Holiday was played by Diana Ross, who herself is a singer.

Here Lady Billie sings the blues.

Kansas city, Robert Altman, 1996

The story line of this movie has not much to do with jazz therefore at least to me it was a bit difficult to watch this movie. However, there is always jazz in the background featuring such great players as Joshua Redman, for example. An episode from the movie is here.

Round Midnight, 1986

This is also probably one of my favorite jazz movies, where Dexter Gordon, one of my favorite sax players, is playing the main role. Extremely real visualization of musician’s life on and behind the scene. Here is a trailer of this movie.

World According to John Coltrane, 1990

„John Coltrane is easily one of the key innovators, visionaries, and virtuosos of American Jazz. Coltrane’s spiritually influenced and challenging music not only turned the jazz world upside down in the 1960s, but directly impacted all modern music for decades to follow. It is this relationship between music and spirituality that is the core of John Coltrane: The World According to John Coltrane. Produced with his wife’s cooperation, The World According to John Coltrane is truly a heartfelt documentary on his work and influence on the music community. The bulk of the 60-minute documentary focuses on Coltrane’s eastern spirituality/musical direction in the 1960s as told through the voices of friends, fellow musicians, and admirers. Perhaps the most impressive aspects of this documentary are its live footage clips. Listening to Coltrane is extremely powerful, but watching him pour his heart and soul into his sax is absolutely awe-inspiring. These clips will leave you yearning to see the entire performances, unedited.“

The Glenn Miller Story – 1954

This is a biography of Glenn Miller and many episodes are authentic performances of Glenn Miller and his big band. This movie comparing to other jazz movies seem to me a bit too ‚white‘, but maybe it is just normal as the white-black aspect was always part of the jazz world.

A bit of this movie can be seen here.

Rhapsody in Blue - 1945

this is a sort of biographic film about George Gershwin which highlights his striving for success and the line of relationship with a singer Julie.