[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Documentaries on Netflix

[Dave Stoddard]

Dear Listers:

I am a Netflix subscriber, and I once recall seeing a fellow Lister 
recommend some Benny Goodman documentaries on Netflix.  For that matter, I 
would be interested in seeing any well-done documentaries about jazz 
musicians.  Any suggestions?

By the way, I am using Netflix to check out some jazz movies.  I recently 
watched Five Pennies (1959) for the first time since I was a kid.  There was 
some good music, in fact quite a lot of it, but the story got the Hollywood 
Treatment.  In addition, Danny Kaye was the cat's meow in the 1950s, but he 
strikes me as an over-the-top clown today.

Birth of the Blues (1941) and Blue Skies (1946) came on a single DVD. 
Martha and I enjoyed the music but didn't find either one convincing as 
dramas.  Birth of the Blues is full of cliches, and the Bing Crosby 
character in Blue Skies was so obviously not marriage material it is hard to 
see Joan Caulfield paying more than passing attention to him.  The movie 
seemed to go on and on.

I just got Young Man with a Horn (1950) in today.  I have seen most of it on 
recent TCM broadcasts, but haven't seen the whole thing for quite a while. 
It, too, has its dramatic shortcomings but has some good music.  Big Spider 
Beck probably wouldn't recognize himself.

Every once in a while Turner Classic Movies will show jazz movies such as 
Young Man with a Horn, Saint Louis Blues, Pete Kelly's Blues and It's Trad, 
Dad.  You have to catch them when they show up, as they generally don't get 
repeated for months at a time.

Regards,
Dave Stoddard
Round Rock, TX