[Dixielandjazz] Duke Ellington, Count Basie documentaries reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Duke Ellington, Count Basie documentaries reviewed

Jazz Notes
by Jonathan Takiff
Philadelphia Daily News, April 26, 2011
Veteran photographer/filmmaker Gary Keys has hung with the greats of jazz. And has
two dynamite documentaries to prove it.
"Duke Ellington: Reminiscing in Tempo" (MVD Visual, A-) boasts a never-before-seen
1968 performance of Ellington's "Mexico Suite" captured south of the border, plus
an interesting intercutting of classics as rendered both by the Ellington band and
modern interpreters Bobby Short, Billy Taylor and Adam Makowicz. The latter bunch
was entertaining at a posthumous Duke birthday bash hosted by his story-sharing sister,
Ruth.
Count Basie sidemen gathered round at Elaine's to trace his career and tell tales
out of school for Keys' film "Count Basie: Then as Now, Count's the King" (MVD Visual,
B). Some fine Basie band clips are included. And the documentary addresses his collaborations
with Billy Eckstine and Joe Williams (although not Frank Sinatra) and the odd, comic
miming of Basie hits by Jerry Lewis in two of his movies.


--Bob Ringwald
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