[Dixielandjazz] Chick Webb documentary reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

The Savoy King: Film Review
by John DeFore
Hollywood Reporter, June 15, 2012
SEATTLE -- Thanks perhaps to a life that was painfully brief in comparison to peers
like Duke Ellington, Swing Era bandleader Chick Webb is underappreciated by casual
music lovers. Jeff Kaufman's enjoyable, convincing "The Savoy King" seeks to remedy
that, and will likely draw some attention solely for the startling lineup of actors
providing voice-over talent. Though unlikely to see many big-screen bookings outside
the fest circuit, the doc is rewarding for any Swing fan and, given some colorful
and heartstring-pulling elements, will likely inspire filmmakers in the audience
to wonder about biopic rights.
After he broke his back as a child and contracted TB of the spine, Webb's growth
was stunted and he developed a hunched back. (Schoolmates said he walked like a chicken,
hence the nickname.) Drumming was encouraged as a means of developing upper-body
strength; and he worked it hard. Early in his career, Ellington himself first made
Webb a band leader. "All you have to do is collect the money, and bring me mine,"
Duke said, but Webb proved hell-bent on greatness.
Throughout the film, musicians -- both living, like Roy Haynes, and dead, via reminiscences
read by Danny Glover, Andy Garcia, and Jeff Goldblum -- marvel at his insistence
on paying for the best arrangements and his willingness to turn down lucrative gigs
that required musical compromises.
"He outswung everything that could be swung," one contemporary exclaims, and the
soundtrack backs her up. (So do a couple of film clips worth treasuring, and a slew
of vintage photos conveying the man's irrepressibility.)
The doc's script relies almost wholly on first-hand accounts, newspapers and magazine
articles from the period of Webb's reign. Kaufman conjures both the thrills of Harlem
("I wouldn't leave Harlem to go to Heaven," Haynes recalls people saying) and the
segregation blacks faced even on their own turf. The Savoy Ballroom, where Webb became
a fixture, is painted as an integrated haven, a serious music palace where Clark
Gable could show up and, if he chose hobnobbing over dancing, be ignored by the youths
busy birthing crazes like the Lindy on the dance floor.
Bill Cosby, reading words attributed to Webb, highlights the marquee cast with a
spirited but unhammy performance. A couple of casting choices are puzzling, though:
Playing Ella Fitzgerald (who got her start with Webb and remained loyal to him),
Janet Jackson offers a breathy, sass-free purr better suited to Marilyn Monroe.
Ten thousand people crowded the streets when Webb died at 30, and viewers may also
be left wanting more of stories like those of the 1937 and '38 band-battles that
left Benny Goodman and Count Basie (with Billie Holiday, no less) nursing their wounds.
No doubt screenwriters are already busy weaving those tales into a showcase for some
young actor willing to don a prosthetic hump for his shot at greatness.
Venue: Seattle International Film Festival
Production Companies: New Heritage Theater Group, SwingBud Films, SingleArrop Productions,
Floating World Pictures
Director-Screenwriter-Producer: Jeff Kaufman
Producer: Lainie Cooke
Executive producers: David Hoffman, Jamal Joseph, Voza Rivers, AlanSieroty, Buddy
Steves
Editor: Jamal El-Amin
No rating, 90 minutes
___________________________________
The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music That Changed America
by Paul DeBarros
Seattle Times, June 9, 2012
This crisp, welcome documentary about the house band leader at the legendary Savoy
Ballroom the Harlem emporium where acrobatic jitterbugging rose to a high art during
the swing era tells the story of Chick Webb, the hunchback dwarf who drove his group
like a locomotive. Webb was revered by competitors, many of whom Benny Goodman, Count
Basie, Duke Ellington matched wits with him at the Savoy's legendary "battle of band"
nights, but never bested him. Webb was also responsible for making a shy, awkward
teenage vocalist named Ella Fitzgerald into a star. Though the film could have talked
a little more shop about jazz drumming, it features excellent interviews and fabulous
vintage footage of Fitzgerald and the dancers (though, sadly, none of Webb himself).


 

-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

The crime of taxation is not in the taking of it. It's in the way it's spent.
--Will Rogers March 20, 1932