Kansas City

This film appears to pay tribute to jazz legends of the 1930s (and 1990s since 90s jazz artists play the parts of the 30s ones) as well as to offer a period-specific plot. I was surprised and pleased by the interesting twists of the plot offered in conjunction with extensive jazz numbers. The set up of this film, however, seems to equate jazz with the troubled underworld experience. Although the most negative characters are white in these films, the jazz almost seems to provide a backdrop for such occurrences. The music seems to not only be a topic within the film but also to move the film along in certain places. More later....

Mo Better Blues

In Mo’ Better Blues, I thought the name ‘Bleek’ was really telling of the hope--or lack thereof--present within the jazz artist’s life; it was pretty bleak. This character appeared to have great difficulty balancing the pressures of career, time, relationship, and art, revealing the very human side of jazz. There is also a critical difference between him and other characters we’ve seen in that the trumpet is not something he himself was obsessed with; from the first scene, it is apparent that the skill was forced on him by his mother, which emasculates his talent throughout the picture, despite his sexual interactions. Not only is the sexual nature of the jazz artist called into question but the cyclical style of the jazz world is highlighted as Bleek attempts to end its hold on his and his family’s life.

Finding himself in a profession in which a man is expected to have sexual mastery, this character is full of contradictions that he himself cannot keep up with. Because he is unable to keep the two women with whom he is engaged satisfied or even separated, he seems to be played himself. He’s definitely not ‘on top’ of things! Unlike the promiscuous mastery of “Bird,” this character is unable to play the game, even saying the wrong name during sexual intercourse with both women! He appears to even be played by Clarke in several scenes. For instance, in one scene she opens her robe to his trumpet. Although the trumpet may be a phallic symbol, her action is more an invitation to jazz and its sensuality than to Bleek himself, for this woman later bites him on the lip, making him angry. Biting him on the lip may likely be representative of when a person bites a coin, placing a notch on it to mark the fact that he/she has ‘had’ it. By biting him, Clarke makes Bleek one of the many she has ‘had’ and owns him rather than being mastered herself by his masculine sexuality. She is also inviting jazz by her desire to sing with the band. In the end, unable to sustain the jazz life--which I don’t think Bleek could have done even if his lip hadn’t been injured--he winds up married and monogamous. I believe it is significant that his lip is the deciding injury from his brawl outside the club; this is the same place he was bitten by Clarke, almost like she marked his failure from the beginning.


Bleek’s marriage appears to be almost an anti-climax and is very unlike other film endings we’ve seen so far. It enables the repetition of the first scene of the movie, revealing the cyclical nature of the jazz life. The varying results of Bleek’s and his child’s practices, however--with Bleek forced to practice rather than play by his mom but Bleek being a man and overruling his wife when his child wants to play--challenges the cycle. This appears significant since the entire film seems to juxtapose the views of the insiders to jazz (Bleek, Shadow, Clarke) and the outsiders (Giant, Indigo, Bleek’s parents, Loan Sharks). In this final scene, Bleek seems to advocate outsider status for his son.

I’ve not had a chance to read our articles yet but am looking forward to finding what others have said regarding these issues as I read today.

Round Midnight

As stated in a Chicago Reader review, this film is yet another portrayal of an “emotionally disarrayed and psychologically disintegrating jazz” musician. Bankrupt and battling addiction, as usual, Dale is a fictional character cast to represent jazz musicians who received a following in Paris in the 1950’s. Despite the drug-free life of Dizzy Gillespie and others like him, it astounds me that the jazz life in this film is once again equated with drugs, addiction, and depression. Not only does the film mirror “Bird” in its style and tone, but it also reveals a paradox within jazz legends themselves.

Like Bird, this film features a non-traditional narrative style in which the facts are relayed through a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, creating a dreamy reverie. Mixed in are black and white home videos that remind the viewer that this is a memorial rather than active narrative. The surrealism of this film is really obvious as it shows several pans of the atmosphere and setting in conjunction with background music (jazz) and voice-overs by the star. These scenes contain, supposedly, the philosophies of the jazz artist that he himself may or may not understand at that point in the narrative. The music in the film is both diegetic and non-diegetic. There are numerous scenes of Dale playing jazz music (diegetic) that reveal the life and art of the jazz musician; it is interesting how the jazz music also acts as background (non-diegetic) for the expression of his thoughts.

Although a good film, Round Midnight is full of paradox--intentional paradox. Unlike the biographical films of Bird, Lady Sings the Blues, and Sweet Love Bitter, this film is the biography of a fictional jazz musician, making the choice to show drug addiction and illness as an integral part of the musician’s life the decision of the director and writers. These are not gathered from a real person’s life. I find this film interesting as a portrait of popular opinion of the jazz artist’s life. The film seems to juxtapose the masculine sexuality inherent in jazz and blackness with the helplessness of an addict who can no longer care for himself. Was this a way of subjugating the art of jazz or the blacks who played it? It certainly calls into question the ‘genius’ of the artist since he appears to lack basic life skills. I’m not advocating that jazz artists are not geniuses in their own right; I am saying that this film only lends credence to an understanding of jazz as a druggy’s venue. While drugs, addiction, and illness were indeed elements within Billie Holiday’s and Charlie Parker’s lives, why must this film of a fictional jazz musician be so morose?

The Book of Urantia - Space is the Place

Wow, um, where to begin? This film tries to bring together Egyptian mythology, a seedy nightclub, and a futuristic cosmic colony of black people all while hinting at the injustices of whites. It’s very surreal and I can’t say that I like his style of music. It’s full of discord, perhaps a statement about earth itself.

Here are several key points I noticed although I do not know what to make of this film altogether. Although whites are clearly the enemy as Sun Ra mentions in the first shots of the film as he surveys another planet for blacks, (He states that he wants to “see what they [blacks] could do with a planet all they’re own with no white people there.”), the film chooses another black man to play The Overseer, the villain of the picture. It seemed from the reactions of the black people that Sun Ra tries to save and take to his planet that the film proposes that oppression can sometimes come from within the victims themselves. In a way, I thought Sun Ra was presenting himself as Messiah, saving his people from a world that is self-destructing; however, not all blacks want to be saved. He proclaims himself to be from outer-space, a theory he upheld in real life by stating that he had been on the planet Saturn. I read several articles on Sun Ra and found that he had studied the Book of Urantia before filming this. This book is based loosely on evolution, science fiction, and the doctrine of the trinity. In it, the each member of the trinity controls certain areas of space and the galaxies within those areas. In this book, the universal father and eternal son, as two of the trinity are called, combine every now and then to form a creator son who is sent to earth as an embodiment of the god’s will. In the Book of Urantia, Jesus is named as only one of these creator sons with more to follow. I really think that Sun Ra is setting himself up as another creator son, equal with Christ; hence, he becomes the savior of the black world.

This idea pervades the entirety of the narrative although Sun Ra finds more identity in Egyptology than Christianity. The narrative begins with him on the outer planet proclaiming that it will be a place of peace for the black. Then, there is his earthly ‘ministry’ in which he defeats the Overseer (like Jesus on the cross) and saves those who are willing, including even a Hispanic woman. The ‘rapture’ of Sun Ra’s followers takes place not a moment too soon as the earth self-destructs (another Christian idea). Then, the narrative deals with alternate creation possibilities, proposing that a new planet can be started which will be inhabited by blacks only. In the Book of Urantia, there are supposedly thousands of inhabited planets, all fulfilling different variations of the religions seen on earth.

Interestingly enough, Sun Ra appears to have truly believed he had a link to Saturn (sometimes claiming he originated there and was unearthly while at other times claiming he was abducted by aliens who communicated with him). This film appears to be his ‘ministry’ to blacks, calling them out from vice toward drug-free, music-directed black power.

The problem, however, that I see with this film and its assertion of black power is its chaotic and surrealistic nature. Few would ever take this seriously and many, I’m certain, would use this film to once again see black advancement as buffoonery. From the quivering hat of Sun Ra in the first scene that he can’t quite seem to keep balanced to the very flat characterization of those in the nightclub, there just isn’t a lot of depth beyond the theoretical, even psychedelic elements common to a 70’s cult film.

Lady Sings the Blues

Wow, what can I say? Lady Sings the Blues is beautifully written but completely contrary to the biographical accounts I found online. Of course, I will have to look up more reputable sources concerning her biography and still need to finish some other reading assignments. I was amazed at the slant provided, showing Billie Holiday as the continual victim. In fact, her drug problem is even blamed on a white band member who is her pusher and the mafia enforcer, her third husband, is presented as a legitimate business man who discourages her drug use. There are so many reversals from the facts that this becomes more a political venue through which the media can stir people up. During the film, I caught myself tearing up despite the fact that I knew many of the scenes and facts were fabricated.

Considering the time this book was written and the film made, I believe this was more media propaganda that used Billie Holiday as a pawn in a bigger scheme to incite certain portions of the American society. Beautifully yet deceitfully done.