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Please Recommend Some Documentary Movies (Soul / Funk / Hip-Hop / Soul-Jazz & related) ?

bazbaz 30 Posts
edited October 2014 in Strut Central
Here is the list of what I found already:

House That Ahmet Built (Atlantic Records)
*Mr. New York Is Back (Joe Bataan)
*The Willie Hutch Story
Coals To Newcastle (New Mastersounds)
Still Bill (Bill Withers)
Thunder Soul (Cashmere Stage Band)
DJ Krush Story
Scratch (2001)
Adventures Of Grandmaster Roc Raida
THE WORLD FAMOUS BEAT JUNKIES
Keepintime
Brasilintime
Secondhand Sureshots
History Of Atlantic Records (25 Years)
Respect Yourself (Stax)
Big Fun In The Big Town
Ike & Tina Turner Live On The Road
Wheedle's Groove
Still Shining (JDilla)
Sam Most, Jazz Flutist
Elvin Jones Documentary
Yusef Lateef Documentary
FUNK - A Documentary - 1960s - 2013
Soul Train History
Tales Of Dr. Funkenstein
Soul To Soul
Stolen Moments
Wicked Pickett
The revolution will not be televised: A film about Gil Scott-Heron
Bobby Womack Documentary
Soul Of The Funky Drummers
Soul Deep 1-6
Charles Bradley: Soul of America
My First Name Is Maceo (Maceo Parker)
Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton (Stones Throw)
Wu-Tang Saga
Rootdown Soundclash
Soul Power (1974)
Suite For Ma Dukes
Jimmy Smith Documentary
Standing In The Shadows Of Motown
Wattstax
*Greatest Ears In Town - The Arif Mardin Story
*Synthetic Substitution - The Life Story Of Melvin Bliss
*Rufus Harley - Pipes Of Peace
*Who is Rufus Harley
*Sam & Dave - Original Soul Men
David Axelrod at Royal Festival
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
"Freeze" & "Product Placement"
& few documentaries about Miles Davis, Sun-Ra, Jimi Hendrix & James Brown

DO YOU KNOW MORE?

  Comments

  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    Bump.

    Pretty broad topic, I suppose, but it would be nice to have a lil repository of strut music doc recommends...

    The Jimmy Smith Doc that Baz mentions is really interesting. Shot by some West German dudes in 1965 while on a tour through Europe. Most of it has no narration and is simply recording Jimmy and the group performing, practicing, hanging out, travelling, etc...Dizzy shows up in the video a lot, as well.

    Here is the full video:



  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    Nas - Time is Illmatic



    The Freshest Kids



    Rockers (Jamaica)



    Fela Kuti - Music is the Weapon



    Weird World of Blowfly



    Style Wars



    Downtown 81

  • FrankFrank 2,373 Posts
    Co-sign on Downtown '81, if only for the mesmerizing James Chance performance... still gives me the chills every time I watch it:



    I recently watched this after a recommendation on that other forum and enjoyed it a lot:
  • ppadilhappadilha 2,244 Posts
    there are a few PBS docs I worked on as assistant editor BITD (beside the Ahmet Ertegun one):

    Billy Strayhorn - Lush Life - there was a crazy story when this one was being made about Cornell West wanting to be interviewed so he could say Billy and Duke Ellington were lovers

    Strange Fruit - this one is great, it's not only a history of the song as civil rights protetst song, but also about the life of Abel Meeropol, the Bronx high school teacher who wrote it

    The Music Instinct - about the various theories around why we make music and how the brain responds to it, there's some interesting parts plus the mandatory Bobby McFerrin scatting-and-booping session

    sorry about the shameless self-promotion, but these are the ones I liked. I worked on other music docs that I wouldn't necessarily recommend.

    speaking of science/music docs, the other day I watched Alive Inside on Netflix, the feature doc that was made after that youtube video of the old man with dementia becoming all lucid when he listened to music. I thought it was pretty good, and they managed not to be too corny about the subject.
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    It's not out yet, but there is a movie coming out in February about The Wrecking Crew, the legendary group of LA session musicians who played on an incredible number of hits back in the late 50's and 60's. The director was on Marc Maron's podcast not too long ago and it sounds like an amazing doc, keep an eye out for it.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    ppadilha said:
    mandatory scatting-and-booping session

    Yes.
  • ketanketan Warmly booming riffs 3,167 Posts
    Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise (Robert Mugge)
    An enigma wrapped inside a riddle enclosed in elaborate gowns.

    Intangible Asset No 82 (Emma Franz)
    Fascinating look at this Korean style of singing & storytelling called pansori.
  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
    Not only one of my favorite music documentaries, but one of my favorite films of any kind. Hilarious, heart breaking, insightful, and you get to hear a retelling of the actual events that inspired Lip's verse in "Oh Shit." And it's only a half hour long.

  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts




  • bazbaz 30 Posts
    hey! thanks for replys!

    do you know this one?


    it's available here:
    http://www.vh1.com/shows/vh1_rock_docs/finding-the-funk-full-episode/1721346/playlist/

    in my area it's impossible to watch it.
    can someone grab it and share?
  • bazbaz 30 Posts
    found few more:



    [strong]Charles Lloyd - Arrows Into Infinity (2014)[/strong]




    [strong]Quincy Jones - Listen Up The Lives Of Quincy (1990)[/strong]



    [strong]Don Ellis - Electric Heart (2007)[/strong]

    and of course:


    [strong]Whiplash (2014)[/strong]
    not a documentary, but jazz related for sure!
  • bazbaz 30 Posts
    also i heard there was a movie about Siah & Yeshua Dapo ED - do someone knows about it?
  • cloud9cloud9 49 Posts
    Muscle Shoals (2013) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2492916/

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,954 Posts
    20 Feet From Stardom
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2396566/

    Merry Clayton and dem.

    FOR-ME-DAH-BLAY.
  • SO OPSO OP 10 Posts
    This is killer-

    Jackie Mclean "Life on Mars"



    And this one on mingus is also deep-

  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    some great suggestions, although some of these docs appear to be in "development hell" or have otherwise stalled out...

    by the way, if i see questlove as a talking head in another music doc i am going to smash the screen. that dude is so full of himself and he suffers extreme diareah of the mouth...just try watching this meeting between questlove and david byrne, i dare anyone to sit through this. quesltlove pontificating, almost filibustering, while a far more accomplished and interesting musician is sitting across from him, looking aghast:

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