Jazz stories have been entwined with cinema since the inception of
jazz film genre in the 1920s, giving us origin tales and biopics,
spectacles and low-budget quickies, comedies, musicals, and dramas,
and stories of improvisers and composers at work. And the jazz film
has seen a resurgence in recent years-from biopics like Miles Ahead
and HBO's Bessie, to dramas Whiplash and La La Land. In Play the
Way You Feel, author and jazz critic Kevin Whitehead offers a
comprehensive guide to these films and other media from the
perspective of the music itself. Spanning 93 years of film history,
the book looks closely at movies, cartoons, and a few TV shows that
tell jazz stories, from early talkies to modern times, with an eye
to narrative conventions and common story points. Examining the
ways historical films have painted a clear picture of the past or
overtly distorted history, Play the Way You Feel serves up capsule
discussions of sundry topics including Duke Ellington's social life
at the Cotton Club, avant-garde musical practices in 1930s
vaudeville, and Martin Scorsese's improvisatory method on the set
of New York, New York. Throughout the book, Whitehead brings the
same analytical bent and concise, witty language listeners know
from his jazz segments on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He
investigates well-known songs, traces the development of the stock
jazz film ending, and offers fresh, often revisionist takes on
works by such directors as Howard Hawks, John Cassavetes, Shirley
Clarke, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Robert
Altman, Woody Allen and Damien Chazelle. In all, Play the Way You
Feel is a feast for film-genre fanatics and movie-watching jazz
enthusiasts.
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