The Cry of Jazz

Mar 22, 1959

0h 34m

★ 5.9

Overview

Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz." A landmark moment in black film, foreseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Featured are ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black & white.

Genres

Documentary

Music

The Cry of Jazz Trailers

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Cast

Alex Johnson

George Waller

Natalie

Dorothea Horton

Faye

Melinda Dillon

John

Andrew Duncan

Louis

Leroy Inman

Bob

James Miller

Bruce

Gavin McFadyan

Carl Dupree

Goldina Rojas

Alan Leavitt

Carl McCormack

Lettie Mae Randolph

Tenor saxophonist Jimmy McGary was a major presence in the Cincinnati music scene from the 1950s until his death in the early ’90s. With music rooted in Bebop with a progressive slant, the Jazz legend was a session player for King Records and released his first album as a bandleader — The First Time (with a quartet that included pianist Pat Kelly) — in 1979. McGary’s spirit and legacy have lived on well after his passing and well beyond Cincinnati, as evidenced in this new documentary film.

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