International Jazz Day (30 April)
by Gabrielfox | created - 3 months ago | updated - 6 days ago | PublicThe United Nations proclaimed 30 April as International Jazz Day, raising awareness in the international community of the virtues of jazz as a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people, as well as an educational tool.
Which one of these movies featuring jazz is your favorite?
Discuss this poll here.
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1. The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
Approved | 115 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biography of bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson, Harry Morgan, Charles Drake
Votes: 9,714
2. Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Music
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Director: Jack Webb | Stars: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee
Votes: 1,502
3. The Benny Goodman Story (1956)
Approved | 116 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The young Benny Goodman is taught clarinet by a Chicago music professor. He is advised by bandleader Kid Ory to play whichever kind of music he likes best, but to make a living, Benny begins by joining the Ben Pollack traveling band.
Director: Valentine Davies | Stars: Steve Allen, Donna Reed, Berta Gersten, Barry Truex
Votes: 1,298
4. St. Louis Blues (1958)
Not Rated | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of W. C. Handy, the undisputed father of the blues.
Director: Allen Reisner | Stars: Nat 'King' Cole, Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald
Votes: 726
5. Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary, Music
The highlights of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
Directors: Bert Stern, Aram Avakian | Stars: Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Chuck Berry, Chico Hamilton
Votes: 1,944
6. The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
101 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biopic of famous jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who becomes a sensation but cannot handle success and life in the fast lane and ends-up broke, struggling with drugs and alcohol.
Director: Don Weis | Stars: Sal Mineo, Susan Kohner, James Darren, Susan Oliver
Votes: 780
7. Paris Blues (1961)
Approved | 98 min | Drama, Music, Romance
During the 1960s, two American expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Louis Armstrong
Votes: 3,961 | Gross: $1.30M
8. All Night Long (1962)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Music
This movie, based on William Shakespeare's Othello, is neatly positioned as a vehicle to showcase some of the best jazz musicians of the period, including Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell, Betsy Blair, Paul Harris
Votes: 1,529
9. A Man Called Adam (1966)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Music
A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.
Director: Leo Penn | Stars: Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson
Votes: 688
10. Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
R | 144 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan
Votes: 4,848 | Gross: $6.03M
11. New York, New York (1977)
PG | 155 min | Drama, Music, Musical
An egotistical saxophonist and a young lounge singer meet on VJ Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long, uphill climb.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander, Barry Primus
Votes: 21,902 | Gross: $16.40M
12. All That Jazz (1979)
R | 123 min | Drama, Music, Musical
Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid career of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer
Votes: 35,423 | Gross: $37.82M
13. The Cotton Club (1984)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Music
Meet the jazz musicians, dancers, owner, and guests (like gangster Dutch Schultz) of The Cotton Club in 1928-1930s Harlem.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee
Votes: 19,561 | Gross: $25.93M
14. One Night with Blue Note (1985 Video)
120 min | Music
Considered one of the greatest nights in Jazz history, this film documents the reunion of 30 jazz greats from the Blue Note label filmed at Town Hall in New York City on February 22nd, 1985.
Director: John Jopson | Stars: Art Blakey, Ron Carter, Walter Davis Jr., Jack DeJohnette
Votes: 69
15. 'Round Midnight (1986)
R | 133 min | Drama, Music
A troubled, but talented musician flees the US to escape his problems, finding refuge and support in Paris.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Dexter Gordon, François Cluzet, Gabrielle Haker, Sandra Reaves-Phillips
Votes: 5,867 | Gross: $3.27M
16. Bird (1988)
R | 161 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The troubled life and career of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Samuel E. Wright
Votes: 13,498 | Gross: $2.18M
17. Let's Get Lost (1988)
Not Rated | 120 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
Documentary on the life of jazz trumpeter and drug addict Chet Baker. Fascinating series of interviews with friends, family, associates and lovers, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life and some modern-day performances.
Director: Bruce Weber | Stars: Chet Baker, Carol Baker, Vera Baker, Paul Baker
Votes: 2,209
18. Stormy Monday (1988)
R | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A crooked American businessman tries to push the shady influential owner of a nightclub in Newcastle, England to sell him the club. The club's new employee and the American's ex lover fall in love and inadvertently stir the pot.
Director: Mike Figgis | Stars: Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean
Votes: 4,443 | Gross: $1.79M
19. Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988)
PG-13 | 90 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
A documentary film about the life of pianist and jazz great Thelonious Sphere Monk. Features live performances by Monk and his band, and interviews with friends and family about the offbeat genius.
Director: Charlotte Zwerin | Stars: Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Jimmy Cleveland, Harry Colomby
Votes: 1,313 | Gross: $0.52M
20. American Blue Note (1989)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Jack, Nat, Jerry, Lee and Tommy play jazz in small clubs, but only one of them will reach success.
Director: Ralph Toporoff | Stars: Peter MacNicol, Carl Capotorto, Tim Guinee, Bill Christopher-Myers
Votes: 97
21. The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
R | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.
Director: Steve Kloves | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer, Beau Bridges, Ellie Raab
Votes: 25,860 | Gross: $18.10M
22. Mo' Better Blues (1990)
R | 130 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam makes questionable decisions in his professional and romantic lives.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito
Votes: 13,673 | Gross: $16.15M
23. Just Friends (1993)
95 min | Drama, Music
Jack has a tenor saxophone and he plays jazz. In the 1950s, in the Belgian harbor town Antwerp, there is not a lot off future for a jazz musician. Jack and his band try to earn a living by ... See full summary »
Director: Marc-Henri Wajnberg | Stars: Josse De Pauw, Ann-Gisel Glass, Sylvie Milhaud, Charles Berling
Votes: 78
24. A Great Day in Harlem (1994)
Not Rated | 60 min | Documentary, Music
The documentary compiles interviews of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine.
Director: Jean Bach | Stars: Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Hinton, Marian McPartland, Art Blakey
Votes: 493 | Gross: $0.53M
25. Kansas City (1996)
R | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A pair of kidnappings expose the complex power dynamics within the corrupt and unpredictable workings of 1930s Kansas City.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy
Votes: 5,423 | Gross: $1.35M
26. Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Sean Penn, Samantha Morton, Woody Allen, Ben Duncan
Votes: 36,698 | Gross: $4.20M
27. Chicago (2002)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
Two death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
Director: Rob Marshall | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Taye Diggs
Votes: 243,475 | Gross: $170.69M
28. Chico & Rita (2010)
Not Rated | 94 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment.
Directors: Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba | Stars: Eman Xor Oña, Limara Meneses, Mario Guerra, Jon Adams
Votes: 9,692 | Gross: $0.35M
29. Whiplash (2014)
R | 106 min | Drama, Music
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser
Votes: 990,651 | Gross: $13.09M
30. Born to Be Blue (2015)
R | 97 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A re-imagining of jazz legend Chet Baker's musical comeback in the late '60s.
Director: Robert Budreau | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Carmen Ejogo, Callum Keith Rennie, Tony Nappo
Votes: 9,277 | Gross: $0.83M
31. Miles Ahead (2015)
R | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Music
An exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis.
Director: Don Cheadle | Stars: Don Cheadle, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Ewan McGregor, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 10,567 | Gross: $2.61M
32. Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary (2016)
Not Rated | 99 min | Documentary, Biography, History
An exploration of the global power and impact of the music of John Coltrane where the passions, experiences and forces that shaped his life and revolutionary sounds are revealed.
Director: John Scheinfeld | Stars: Denzel Washington, Reggie Workman, Ravi Coltrane, Ashley Kahn
Votes: 2,498 | Gross: $0.41M
33. I Called Him Morgan (2016)
92 min | Documentary, Drama, History
An exploration of the relationship between jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen, who was implicated in his murder in 1972.
Director: Kasper Collin | Stars: Lee Morgan, Helen Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Larry Reni Thomas
Votes: 1,946 | Gross: $0.10M
34. La La Land (2016)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 672,221 | Gross: $151.10M
35. Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes (2018)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary, History, Music
A revelatory, thrilling and emotional journey behind the scenes of Blue Note Records, the pioneering label that gave voice to some of the finest jazz artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Director: Sophie Huber | Stars: Robert Glasper, Ambrose Akinmusire, Marcus Strickland, Lionel Loueke
Votes: 626
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