The Night Beat — Jazz Goes to The Movies Week Two

For Week Two of Jazz Goes to the Movies, we head south to Brazil. We’ll feature music heard in films such as “Flying Down to Rio” (1933), the very first Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical, “Black Orpheus” (1959) that introduced much of the world to the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa plus “Elis & Tom” (2023) a documentary about the legendary album recorded fifty years ago this month by Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

While “Elis & Tom” was recorded in Los Angeles, it was not until 1989 that the album was released in the United States. Over the years their rendition of Jobim’s “Aguas de Marco” (Waters of March) has come to be considered the definitive version of the song.  We’ll include recordings of it by Stan Getz and Holly Cole.

We’ll also hear Caetano Veloso from Pedro Almodovar’s “Habla con Ella” (Talk to Her), Carlinhos Brown from “Speed II” and Eliane Elias performing a Chico Buarque song that appeared in the animated film “Rio.”

It’s also the birthdate of two jazz trumpet players: Blue Mitchell (3/13/1930-5/21/1979) and Terence Blanchard (b. 3/13/1962). We’ll feature some music from both.

Blue Mitchell recorded prolifically both as a leader and sideman throughout his career beginning in 1958 and continuing until a few months before he passed away in 1979.  Along with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, Blue was part of the Horace Silver Quintet from 1959 through 1963.  After leaving Horace Silver, he formed a quintet with his former sidemen in the Silver quintet and hired Chick Corea to fill the piano chair.

After a short time playing with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1982, Terence was suggested to Art Blakey by then-current Blakey trumpeter Wynton Marsalis as his replacement in the Jazz Messengers, a position Terence would hold until 1986 when he and fellow Blakey bandmate Donald Harrison, Jr. left to form their group.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Terence has worn lots of different hats in the music world: bandleader, sideman, educator, and composer of over 40 film scores beginning with Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” in 1991.  Nominated for two Academy Awards, some of his other film scores include “BlacKkKlansman”, “Cadillac Records”, “Malcolm X” and “The Princess and the Frog”.  In the fall of 2021, the New York Metropolitan Opera opened its season with Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”, the first opera staged by the Met written by a black composer since its creation around 140 years ago.

Last and certainly not least, we’ll include a track or two from drummer Willie Jones III as he’ll be taking the stage at Dazzle for two nights (Wednesday/Thursday, March 13-14) with a band featuring Denver saxophonist Brad Leali.

Be sure to tune in to The Night Beat on Wednesday, March 13 at 8 p.m. with host Doug Crane for Week Two of Jazz Goes to the Movies.

Stay connected to KUVO’s programs and our community! Sign up for the Oasis E-News today!