Jazz documentaries, RIP Manuel Molina, Carl Saunders

Making the rounds on the film festival circuit, Jim Burns’ documentary that spotlights the music of four rising young jazz stars is called “She’s Got Jazz.” It features four women, all under 35, who are changing the face of jazz in the 21st century: saxophonist Grace Kelly (a Vail Jazz alumna), trumpeter Bria Skonberg, and vocalists Veronica Swift and Brianna Thomas.

“She’s Got Jazz” is produced and directed by Jim Burns, who produced and directed the PBS documentary Jimmy Van Heusen – Swingin’ with Frank & Bing. It is co-written by jazz journalist Will Friedwald.

And the recently departed vocalist Carol Sloane is featured in a documentary film,  Sloane: A Jazz Singer. Executive producer Stephen Barefoot says the film includes stories from her 1980s tenure in North Carolina doing a radio show and at his club in Chapel Hill, as well as footage from sets at Birdland.  Michael Lippert directed and edited the film, which won “Best Documentary Feature” at the Sante Fe Film Festival in February. SOURCE: The Local Reporter

Rest in peace Maestro Manuel Molina, Colorado-based guitarist, friend of KUVO, and presenter of the highly acclaimed annual program “A Night Around the World.”

Molina was born in Lima, Perú in 1957, but he made Denver his home beginning in 1980.

At the age of 17, he was the youngest person to conduct the Peruvian National Symphony.

Molina and His band, Hot Molina, traveled the world performing for the United States Department of Defense and various US embassies overseas. SOURCE: Maestro Manuel Molina

And we note the passing of trumpeter Carl Saunders, also on February 25, after a long illness. The Indianapolis native was age 80.

He played mellophonium in the Kenton band in the early 1960s, where there’s a heavy burden on the brass section, and he spent two decades in the show bands of Las Vegas for names like Ella, Frank and Tony Bennett.  Saunders held first trumpet chair in the touring bands of Harry James and Maynard Ferguson, and played lead with Bill Holman’s orchestra as well as Supersax, Gerald Wilson and the Phil Norman Tentet.

He had nearly a dozen albums in his own name, including the 2020 release on Summit Records, Carl Saunders, Jazz Trumpet. SOURCE: All About Jazz

Pictures: homepage-Bria Skonberg, this page top to bottom-Bria Skonberg, Maestro Manuel Molina, and Carl Saunders

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