New documentary film on Jackie Paris

[ghost of miles]

Re-posted from Yahoo Songbirds--a great list, btw, for anyone who's interested in jazz vocalists:

'Tis Autumn' Looks for Old-Time Jazz Man Paris

Film pulls acclaimed singer from fading history

by Jay Meehan

Park Record (Park City Utah), January 21, 2006

Veteran filmmaker Raymond De Felitta's first feature documentary film "'Tis

Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris" captures the essence of a sweeping jazz

tone poem. Entered in this year's Sundance Film Festival Documentary

competition, the art of this highly poignant and very human tale involves

questions of overtones and undertones and the mystery of whether or not true

genius responds to rational analysis.

Why did the late, great, and legendary jazz vocalist Jackie Paris, long referred

to as a "singers singer," a "shoe-in," and a "sure shot," never bust out? Why

did the man publicly hailed by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Anita O'Day as

their all-time favorite vocal artist never gain acceptance among record buying

and club-hopping jazz fans.

Why did the celebrated be-bop crooner, the first to record a vocal to Thelonious

Monk's classic "'Round Midnight" and a member of Charlie Parker's famed combo of

the mid-1940s, fail to gel with the in-crowd? Why did a kid who won a "Downbeat"

award, packed clubs on 52d Street, and headlined with Lionel Hampton never make

the grade?

To this day, those-in-the-know point to his immortal recording of the Hoagy

Carmichael Johnny Mercer standard "Skylark" as the last word in jazz voice. The

problem is that those-in-the-know could still hold their annual reunion in a

phone booth.

Most jazz buffs have never heard of the cat. And that included me, until, that

is, I sat in wonder as De Felitta's brilliantly moving and touching documentary

unfolded before me.

The art of the film never wavers, either in pace or moving parts. Quite

interesting cameo interviews with the likes of longtime Lighthouse icon Howard

Rumsey, Dr. Billy Taylor, Terry Gibbs, James Moody, Hank Jones, George Wein, and

Phil Schaap are interspersed with new and archival performance footage, recently

discovered film, still photos, and incomparable never-released recordings.

The heart of the film, however, resides in lingering camera close-ups of Paris

himself as he stares across the room at the lens, confronts his emotions during

his first visit back to his old neighborhood, or closes his eyes while

succumbing to what very well might be an ice-cream flashback. There are a

thousand of them. And they are all to die for.

Even as one comes to grip with the seeming unfairness and shimmering darkness

that somehow shrouds the life of Jackie Paris, the fact that you are finally

witness to his overpowering musical genius makes the time invested all the more

valuable. And it gives added meaning to the fact that the filmmaker had the

vision, energy, and insight to reconfigure such an important artistic landscape.

And that is what this film is all about -- the perfect pairing of artist and

subject and the blurring of the line separating their individual need to

continually seek until they arrive at artistic truth. Is there a final knowing?

And, if there is, does searching get you there? Can you truly get your arms

around flair and ingenuity?

Once again, it's all about the journey and with Raymond De Felitta at the helm,

what a long, strange, haunting, and wonderful trip the search for Jackie Paris

turned out to be.

_____

"Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris" will premier on Monday, Jan. 23 at

9:15 p.m. in Holiday Village Cinema III. For a full list of screening times,

visit www.sundance.org

http://www.parkrecord.com/scene/ci_3422512

[JPF]

Thanks for posting this. I'll be looking for this film on DVD.

I got to hear Jackie live in about 1964 when he was touring with Anne Marie Moss. It was a strange gig, in a rather upscale, allegedly mob-connected nightclub in Worcester, Mass. He was excellent - I was one of about 5 people in the entire club.

[marcello]

I love Jackie Paris!

I have this one, and it's fine indeed:

1.'Round Midnight

2.When I Fall in Love

3.I Have Dreamed

4.Detour Ahead

5.Everything Must Change

6.What I See in You

7.My Foolish Heart

8.I Can Only Pretend

9.This Too Shall Pass

10.Young and Foolish

11.Summer Soft

12.I'll Be Around

[AllenLowe]

is he still alive? I thought he died -

[Stereojack]

is he still alive? I thought he died -

He did - in 2004.

[AllenLowe]

thanks - it's a little weird that the review posted never mentions that -

[JPF]

For anyone in that area, the film is being shown as part of the upcoming Newport, RI, Film Festival. I don't know the date.

[Michael Weiss]

For anyone in that area, the film is being shown as part of the upcoming Newport, RI, Film Festival. I don't know the date.

More information here:

hangoverlounge.com

There's a private screening in NYC on June 17. If I get any info about public release I'll pass it on here.