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You can hear the influence of Quincy Jones, who died Sunday, in practically every genre of music. In the music of Stevie Wonder — who grew up listening to Jones’ own records and work with Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and others — Jones’ influence lives strongest in the way Wonder arranges his music and in the verve of his singing.

Jones and Wonder worked together several times, including productions for Donna Summer, Michael Jackson, and USA for Africa, but Wonder still marvels at the times Jones recorded his songs — including “You’ve Got It Bad,...

What couldn’t Quincy Jones do?

He wrote, composed and arranged music for your favorite artists and even produced films and TV shows that launched some of your favorite actors. He not only changed careers — he changed lives.

Here we break down some of the biggest acts and projects Jones worked on, from Michael Jackson’s seminal Thriller album to “We Are the World” to winning 28 Grammys, an Emmy and a Tony.

Michael Jackson

Before he met Jones while working on The Wiz, Jackson had been known for the Jackson 5 and released four solo albums that had mild success. Then they made Off the Wall and the King of Pop fully arrived. Released in 1979 around the time Jackson turned 21, the album helped him transition from young singer to critically acclaimed, matured artist. The album’s disco, funk and R&b sound resonated on the charts, helped Jackson win his first...

It is impossible to overstate Quincy Jones' influence on music and the music business throughout the second half of the 20th century. There wasn't a genre that Jones, who passed away yesterday at the age of 91, couldn't master as a composer, producer, performer, or all three. He kicked off his career playing trumpet for vibraphone god Lionel Hampton, served as trumpeter and music director for Dizzy Gillespie, and produced effervescent pop hits like "It's My Party" for Lesley Gore while expanding his range compositionally via jazz LPs and, perhaps most importantly, film music -- a field where the African-American artist stood out among a sea of white men.

Curiously, there isn't as much serious scholarship on the work of Jones, which is rather astounding considering his seismic 1970s and '80s impact as a producer for Michael Jackson on two of the top-selling LPs of all time ("Off the Wall...

Five decades ago, a rip-roaring spoof Western came to town, with a six-shooter full of gags, a handful of ultra-catchy songs, and a roster of stellar performances to boot. It rode a blazing saddle, it wore a shining star – and it became one of the greatest cinematic comedies of all time. Yes, Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles has turned 50, holding on to its status as one of the funniest films ever made, with sharp satire to complement its pitch-perfect homage to the Western genre. Now, it looks even better than ever, thanks to a new 4K restoration – available to own on 4K Ultra-hd Blu-ray. Gentlemen, please rest your sphincters.

Blazing Saddles arrived in a period of major creativity for Brooks – it landed in February 1974, followed-up before the year was out by his Universal monster spoof Young Frankenstein. And it connected with audiences for all kinds of reasons – not just the barrage...

Whoopi Goldberg took a moment from The View‘s political debates today to pay an emotional tribute to her friend and mentor Quincy Jones, who died Sunday at the age of 91.

Just before the episode’s first commercial break, Goldberg pivoted from the panel’s political discussions to pause, sigh and say to the camera, “I can’t even explain what’s happening in my head right now because I know I have to be here and I have to be focused, but we just lost the extraordinary Quincy Jones.”

“Songwriter, composer, producer. He worked with everybody – Ray Charles, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Dinah Washington. Just everybody, he worked with everybody. And he worked as the composer on The Color Purple, which is how I met Quincy.”

Goldberg continued, “I had no better friend. He never left,...

Quincy Jones, producer of several of the best-selling albums of all time, died at his home in Bel Air on Sunday as per his publicist. Though his work covered all genres, Jones will forever be best known for helping coronate the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, by helping craft Jackson’s infectious and highly lucrative sound across three classic albums: Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. In 1985, he produced the “We Are The World” session, arguably the apex of 1980s pop music.

Jones, who in 1968 became the first African-American nominated for a Best Original Song Academy Award with “The Eyes of Love,” received an astonishing 80 Grammy nominations and 28 Grammy Awards throughout his career. His wins were for arranging, producing, and performing, and he won the 1988 Album of the Year prize for Back on the Block, an R&b-pop-hip hop cross-generational collaboration including artists like Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, Ice-t, Kool Moe Dee,...

Quincy Jones, the legendary record producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose contributions to contemporary music spanned over seven decades and multiple genres such as jazz, pop, and hip-hop, has died at the age of 91.

“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” Jones’ family said in a statement. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”

Jones was one of the most celebrated icons in the music industry, garnering a record 80 Grammy nominations and 28 wins, including three Producer of the Year honors and two Album of the Year and Song of the Year awards each. His most recent win came in 2019 when Quincy, the semi-autobiographical documentary written and co-directed by his daughter Rashida Jones, took home Best Music Film.

As a producer and arranger,...

Quincy Delight Jones, Jr., a renowned musician and producer who shaped popular music for seven decades, died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91 years old. Jones leaves behind an unmatched legacy that broke down barriers and introduced millions of fans around the world to a variety of genres.

Jones was born in Chicago and raised in Seattle, where he learned to play trumpet and arrange music from a young age. He studied at the Berklee School of Music and started his career arranging and performing with jazz legends like Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. By age 25, Jones had established himself as one of the top arrangers and trumpet players in jazz music.

In the 1960s, Jones made history as the first Black person to compose a major movie score, for the 1964 film “The Pawnbroker.” This opened doors for other Black artists in Hollywood. He went on...

Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Will Smith and the Estate of Michael Jackson were among the prominent Hollywood figures to pay tribute to Quincy Jones following news of his death early Monday.

Jones died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.

A giant in the music industry, Jones had a phenomenal career that spanned more than 60 years. He produced Michael Jackson’s best-selling albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad; helmed the historic recording sessions for the 1985 charity single “We Are the World,” the best-selling single of all time; and produced Lesley Gore’s 1963 chart-topping hit “It’s My Party.”

Jones received the Motion Picture Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, an honorary Oscar in 2024 and the Grammy Legend Award in 1991 and reeled in 28 Grammys from an all-time best 80 nominations.

The Estate of Michael Jackson said in a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter,...

Quincy Jones, the musician, composer, producer and songwriter whose oeuvre spanned seven decades and everything from Michael Jackson’s Thriller to frequent collaborations with Frank Sinatra, producing the big-screen adaptation of The Color Purple and composing some of the most memorable film and TV music ever has died. His death was first reported by the Associated Press, which cited Jones’ publicist Arnold Robinson. He was 91.

“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the 28-time Grammy winner’s family said in a statement given to AP. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”

Any one on the long list of Jones’ accomplishments could make a career for another artist. He produced Thriller, which won four Grammys and became a cultural milestone.

Quincy Jones, who distinguished himself over the course of a 70-year career in music as an artist, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer, has died. He was 91.

Jones died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to a statement shared with Variety by his rep Arnold Robinson. A cause of death was not disclosed.

“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing. And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him,” the Jones family said in the statement. “He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly; we take comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the essence of his being, was shared with the...

Jack Jones, a singer who found fame and chart success on the easy-listening side of the street in the 1960s, and who later became etched in television-watching America’s psyche with the “Love Boat” theme, died Wednesday at 86.

Jones died of leukemia at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif., his wife of 15 years, Eleanora Jones, said.

Jones had hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, but his highest chart numbers could be found on what was then known as the easy listening chart, which later became adult contemporary. In the easy listening format, he had No. 1 singles with “The Race is On” in 1965, “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” in 1966 and “Lady” in 1967.

In particular, “The Impossible Dream” — a cover of the most popular song from the 1965 Broadway musical “Man of La Mancha” — became culturally ubiquitous, through Jones’ frequent TV appearances, even though it peaked at No. 35 on the Hot 100, where it...

The Killers kicked off a two-night stand at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York, on Saturday night by honoring another band that played the same venue 60 years earlier.

“Some of you might know the history of the place,” Killers frontman Brandon Flowers told the crowd. “Obviously there were some amazing tennis matches that took place here. When we think about that historic Beatles performance at Shea Stadium, that was in 1965. But in 1964, 60 years ago, the Beatles did two nights here at Forest Hills. We thought that we would pay our respects.

Michael Cuscuna, the three-time Grammy winner, Mosaic Records co-founder, historian and archivist who produced hundreds of jazz reissues and studio sessions during his career, has died. He was 75.

Cuscuna died Saturday of cancer at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, Grammy-winning recording artist Billy Vera, a longtime friend, announced.

Cuscuna produced the 1970 album Buddy & the Juniors, featuring Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Junior Mance, for Vanguard Records, and 1972’s Give It Up, Bonnie Raitt’s lone gold album during her time at Warner Bros.

He produced reissues and studio sessions for Impulse, Atlantic, Arista, Muse, Elektra, Freedom, Novus and virtually the entire Blue Note catalog.

“Plainly stated, Blue Note Records would not exist as it does today without the passion & dedication of Michael Cuscuna,” execs from the label wrote on Instagram.

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Readers of Blues & Rhythm magazine know his work in the blues field,...

Until recently, the oldest entertainment program known to survive on color videotape was NBC’s An Evening with Fred Astaire, broadcast live on October 17, 1958.

But now, a rare color videotape of the Kraft Music Hall Starring Milton Berle that predates the Astaire special by nine days has been discovered. The tape will be shown at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood on Saturday, February 24th at 7:30 Pm in a program that is free and open to the public.

“The Berle Kraft tape is the oldest known color videotape of an entertainment program,” said Mark Quigley, the John H. Mitchell Television Curator at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. “Entertainment” is a key distinction. The oldest known color tape is of the NBC Washington studios dedication ceremony on 05-22-1958.

“With the introduction of videotape technology in the broadcast industry starting in 1956, one of...

The 1974 spin on westerns sees Mel Brooks pointing at the absurdity of racism and the history of human evil while always ensuring a steady stream of laughter

Though it rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as The Wild Bunch, McCabe and Mrs Miller and the wave of revisionist westerns that came out of Hollywood in the late 60s and early 70s, Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles doesn’t need any artfully hazy Vilmos Zsigmond cinematography to upend Old West mythology. True, it is a comedy where a horse gets cold-cocked, a Native American chief (one of three characters played by Brooks) speaks Yiddish and Count Basie’s orchestra makes an appearance on the plains. Yet from the opening sequence, where Chinese immigrants and recently freed Black slaves work under the white man’s whip to build a railroad, this irreverent Looney Tunes spoof of the genre takes a dimmer...

New York, NY– The Paul Taylor Dance Company’s 2023 Season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, from October 31 through November 12, will include fourteen dances by five choreographers – Ulysses Dove, Amy Hall Garner, Larry Keigwin, Lauren Lovette, and Paul Taylor – and feature world premieres by Lovette, Ptdc’s Resident Choreographer, and Keigwin, Taylor Company Commissioned choreographer. Music on all programs will be performed live by Orchestra of St. Luke’s (Osl), conducted by Taylor Music Director David Lamarche and Tara Simoncic. Ticket prices for the 2023 Season start at $15 and go on sale September 13. Tickets are available at www.boxoffice.dance.

Continuing his mission to build a repertory for the 21st Century, Artistic Director Michael Novak will present four works by three of today’s leading dance makers.

· Lauren Lovette will be represented by two new works. Dreamachine, set to Michael Daugherty’s percussion suite of that name, will have its New York premiere.

T​he 80s was a fun time for moviegoers. For a successful comedy, sometimes all you needed was a group of employees at a specific job, they butt up against whatever authority is in place, and get into hijinks. There is no better example of this than the recruits at the Police Academy. A group of misfits that are thrown together and given guns. The making of the film had its ups and downs but the whole thing ended up with a whole of laughs and creating a franchise that would spawn seven films, a TV series, and a Saturday morning cartoon. Let’s find out exactly what happened to Police Academy here on Wtf Happened To This Movie?

P​roducer Paul Maslansky was in the middle of production on the film The Right Stuff. They were about to film a scene on the street and had called into the...

The single features renowned musicians Aaron Parks, Joe Sanders, and Brian Blade.

04 August 2023 – Joshua Redman has released “Baltimore,” the second single to be revealed from the acclaimed saxophonist’s forthcoming Blue Note debut where are we due out September 15. One of two instrumental tracks on the album, “Baltimore” was written by the classically influenced songwriter Gabriel Kahane and is given a transcendent performance by Redman’s quartet featuring pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade.

where are we is a musical journey across the United States of America that also marks Redman’s first-ever album with a vocalist—the dynamic young singer Gabrielle Cavassa—who is featured throughout as heard on the album’s lead single “Chicago Blues,” a mash-up of Count Basie’s “Goin’ to Chicago” with Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago.” Redman will be touring the project across the U.S. and Europe following the album’s release.

Tony Bennett's first record, "Because of You" was released in 1952 and it instantly codified the entertainer as one of the music world's great crooners. In 1962, his 15th record, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was certified platinum by the RIAA, but that was after he had already established himself with Count Basie and his Orchestra and as a great fan of songwriter Harold Arlen. All told, he released 61 records in his decades-long career, not including his eight albums of collaborations and duets. He sang with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Carrie Underwood, Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, Mariah Carey, Bono, Sting, Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, and many others. Most recently, he released two collaborations with Lady Gaga in 2018 and 2021. Bennett passed away on July 21, 2023 at the age of 96. He will be deeply missed.

Naturally, a talent of Bennett's stature couldn't be ignored by Hollywood, and he would appear...

Tony Bennett, the affable pre-rock standards crooner who came to be newly appreciated and beloved by everyone from the grunge generation to Lady Gaga, died on Friday. He was 96. Bennett’s publicist, Sylvia Weiner, confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone, adding that he died in his hometown of New York City.

A cause of death was not specified. But in 2016, Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and began experiencing memory loss, one of the leading symptoms of the disease (which has no known cure). Bennett’s condition,...

Composer Burt Bacharach has died, aged 94.

The legendary musician was known for his orchestral pop style featured in hits including “I Say a Little Prayer”.

His publicist said the musician died on Wednesday (8 February) at his home in Los Angeles.

Bacharach died of natural causes.

The pianist was a six-time Grammy Award winner, and won three Oscars for his music in films Arthur and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

His other famous soundtracks include Michael Caine film Alfie and What’s New Pussycat.

Bacharach was a prolific composer who, alongside lyricist Hal David, wrote music artists ranging from Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield to Cilla Black and Tom Jones.

Their music was also perfromed by The Beatles, Elvis Presley and The Carpenters.

Some of Bacharach’s most recognisable songs include “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head“ (1969), “(They Long to Be) Close to You” (1970) and “That’s What Friends Are For...

Alan Copeland, the songwriter, Grammy-winning arranger and ultra-smooth vocalist known for his many years with The Modernaires and performances on Your Hit Parade and The Red Skelton Hour, has died. He was 96.

Copeland died Dec. 28 in an assisted living facility in Sonora, California, his friend Bob Lehmann told The Hollywood Reporter.

As recently as this fall, Copeland was still singing and playing keyboards in a quartet called Now You Hazz Jazz. “It was his dream to play in a small group until the last curtain, that’s how he termed it,” said Lehmann, the drummer.

Copeland wrote or co-wrote songs including “Make Love to Me” — Jo Stafford’s version made it to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1954 — “Too Young to Know,” “High Society,” “This Must Be the Place, “Darling, Darling, Darling” and “While the Vesper Bells Were Ringing.”

After taking arranging lessons from Henry Mancini, he arranged vocals for...

Monty Norman, who helped launch the James Bond franchise by composing the character’s beloved theme music, has died at the age of 94 following a brief illness. His family confirmed the news of his death to BBC, who first broke the story.

Norman was born in London on April 4, 1928. The son of Latvian immigrants, he was forced to evacuate the city during World War II but later returned during The Blitz. After serving in the Royal Air Force, he began pursuing a career in music. Norman first worked as a performer, singing with many prominent big band music acts and eventually sharing the stage with other top comedians and musicians of his time.

In the 1950s, Norman began to transition from performing to composing. He wrote lyrics for a variety of successful West End musicals, including “Make Me an Offer” and “Expresso Bongo,” and also wrote songs for various recording...

Everything about season 4 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was bigger, from the sets to the drama and, of course, the music.

Returning songwriters Tom Mizer and Curtis Moore were tasked with creating a pastiche of sounds, including calypso, period-appropriate pop, a Broadway tune and several striptease numbers.

The two worked with the show’s music supervisor Robin Urdang to soundtrack Midge’s (Rachel Brosnahan) career pivot, trading Greenwich Village coffeehouses for a Manhattan burlesque club.

As Urdang explains: “We built upon the musical palette of the show using numerous hidden gems such as ‘Femininity’ from ‘Oh, Captain’ in the final dance sequence at the burlesque club.”

In an extension of how the show uses music, Urdang says they also created Mandarin-language versions of American standards to use in the Button Club’s jukebox, along with original songs written by Mizer and Moore for the wedding of closeted singer Shy Baldwin.

Ralph Carmichael, a prolific composer and arranger of film and TV scores whose writing or arranging credits include I Love Lucy, Bonanza, My Mother the Car, the sci-fi classic The Blob and some of the most beloved and enduring Christmas recordings ever made, died Monday in Camarillo, Calif. He was 94.

His death was announced by family spokesperson Jim Pedersen. A cause was not specified.

A pioneering figure in contemporary Christian music, Carmichael began a long career in television and film in the early 1950s when he headed the music department of his alma mater, the Southern California Bible College, and his school band was featured on the local Los Angeles TV program Campus Christian Hour. The show won an Emmy Award in 1951.

Around the same time, he began writing incidental music charts for I Love Lucy, a role he’d also fill on December Bride, Bonanza and The Frankie Lane Show,...

Beverly Noga, a longtime music publicist known for work with high-profile acts including Sonny & Cher and The Bee Gees, died from cancer on October 8, a family spokesperson confirmed to Deadline. She was 87.

Noga is said to be the first woman ever to own her own PR agency, founding Contemporary Public Relations with business partner Bobbi Cowan (niece of famed publicist Warren Cowan) in 1964. This was the company through which she repped legendary pop duo Sonny & Cher, along with Grammy-winning disco trio The Bee Gees. Additional clients included Cream, The Turtles, Three Dog Night, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Eric Burden and the Animals, Joe Cocker, Blind Faith, and the Chambers Brothers.

Noga continued to rep the Chambers Brothers after shutting down Contemporary PR, founding and running her own companies (Hebewillen Enterprises and Hebewillen Publishing) with Willie Chambers up until her death.

Noga came from a musical family. Her parents, John and Helen Noga,...

Laufey evokes Roberta Flack oldies and early Tracey Thorne on “I Wish You Love,” a swooning cover of a standard that appears on Typical of Me, the 22-year-old singer’s debut EP. Many of the tracks were written in Laufey’s dorm room while she was a student at Berklee College of Music.

“I Wish You Love” has a fascinating history — it was initially written by Charles Trenet and recorded several times in France during the 1940s before Albert Beach penned an English-language version. After the new rendition of the...

Fremantle has acquired international distribution rights to Oscar Peterson: Black and White, the feature-length documentary about the iconic jazz pianist being directed by Barry Avrich. The deal is for overseas rights excluding Canada on the film, which is in production. A fall 2021 release is planned.

The doc will center on the life and music of the prolific jazz pioneer, whose blazing-fast hands on the piano were put to use via collaborations with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole. It also will dive into the racism that Peterson was forced to endure throughout his career, and his commitment to mentoring younger players.

Peterson, who died in 2007 at 82, won seven Grammys and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Recording Academy in 1997 to honor his six-decade career.

The film hails from Avrich’s Melbar Entertainment Group, which is producing with Canada’s Bell Media.

Gary Gunas, executive producer of such Broadway musicals as The Who’s Tommy, Jekyll & Hyde and Ragtime, died today of pancreatic cancer at his home in London. He was 73.

His death was announced by his husband Bill Rosenfield.

Born in Manchester, Ct, Gunas began his career Off Broadway in 1969 as an apprentice company manager for the musical Promenade. In the 1970s he shifted to Broadway productions and tours, working in the office of Marvin A. Krauss Associates as a company manager, associate Gm and eventually general manager on many shows including Godspell, American Buffalo, Beatlemania, Dancin’, Woman of the Year, Dreamgirls and Best Musical Tony winner La Cage aux Folles, as well as notable revivals of Gypsy, starring Angela Lansbury; King Richard III, starring Al Pacino; and Death of a Salesman, starring Dustin Hoffman.

During that time period, Gunas also general managed stage performances by such performers as Peter Allen,...

Bruce Swedien, the celebrated audio engineer and producer who worked on records by Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Donna Summer, Duke Ellington, Paul McCartney and many more, died Tuesday at the age of 86.

Swedien’s daughter, the musician Roberta Swedien, confirmed his death on Facebook, writing, “A legend in the music industry for over 65 years and five-time Grammy winner, he was known for his work with Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and many more. He had a long life full of love, great music, big boats and a beautiful marriage. We will celebrate that life.

A new Billie Holiday documentary prompts a look at the films that best capture the spirit of the jazz greats

The first thing anyone ever heard in the movies was jazz – in cinema’s first sound film, The Jazz Singer, of course, a creaky 1927 backstage drama that now only really has historical-milestone status to recommend it. (It’s on Amazon if you’re curious.) By now, happily, the cinema of jazz is a sophisticated, richly stocked subgenre, with British director James Erskine’s Billie (Barbican Cinema on demand) the latest addition.

The tumultuous life and death of Billie Holiday has long demanded a major documentary study, and Erskine’s film digs in with the advantage of a vast, hitherto unheard interview archive: candid testimonies from friends and associates such as Count Basie and Tony Bennett, recorded in the 1970s by the late journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, for a planned biography that never came to pass.

New York City isn’t particularly renowned for its beauty. Wait, wait—don’t punch me. I love New York. I moved here because I grew up on Annie Hall, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Moonstruck, and All About Eve. I wanted to be in the city that never slept, feel the rush of creative energy that has inspired artists for centuries, but I didn’t consider the city a “beauty” comparable to Paris or Rome, cities with breathtaking architecture and art pouring from every structure.

The beauty of NYC is of a less-obvious kind; it grows on you. You learn to find serenity among the steel columns that support the subway, find dissonant harmony in the eclectic types of architecture that characterize major landmarks, and appreciate the softness of Central Park, a miniature forest surrounded by steel and cement.

Manfred Kirchheimer highlights precisely this kind of beauty in his poetic documentary Free Time.

Billie

Unreleased interviews with the jazz icon, newly restored color pictures and videos, pus conversations with other musical greats like Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, Sylvia Syms, and Count Basie – the new documentary examines the life and cultural legacy of Billie Holiday as it’s never been before. The film was made possible by over 200 hours of footage that Linda Lipnack Kuehl captures during the Sixties for a biography of Holiday that was never completed. (November 13th)

Dune

Frank Herbert’s 1965 science-fiction epic novel is getting another big-screen adaptation. This time,...

A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews.

The project is centered around 200 hours of previously unreleased interviews that Linda Lipnack Kuehl conducted during the Sixties for a biography of Holiday that was never finished. The tapes feature conversations about Holiday with fellow legends like Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie, as well as others in Holiday’s life — from high school friends, lawyers and pimps to the federal agents who targeted and...

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to clue us in on who is the Queen of Jazz. It’s Ella Fitzgerald, my dear Watson, Lady Ella. William Basie began to boogie-woogie piano keys at a Harlem club catering to “uptown celebrities.” After a quick stomp through Kansas City, he came back as Count Basie. There are few true royalties among jazz, ask anyone waiting for residual checks, but as Duke Ellington made clear, these two had that thing which made them swing. Eagle Rock Entertainment is dropping two documentaries celebrating these American jazz icons: Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things and Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes exclusively on digital formats on Sept. 11.

“Recently enjoying a hugely successful Virtual Cinema release, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things presents a deep, insightful look into the life of The ‘First Lady Of Song,’” according to the press statement. “Ella Fitzgerald’s journey is thoroughly explored,...

Annie Ross, the legendary Jazz singer who was part of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross died in the early morning hours of July 22 at her home in New York City. She was 89. Ross’ former manager, Jim Coleman, confirmed the cause of death to be emphysema and heart disease.

Her nephew Domenick Allen wrote on his Facebook page, “My Aunt, Annie Ross, passed today at 2:00est in NYC. She was a Force of Nature, both in her music and in her life. I stood onstage next to her many times, and she truly was a Powerhouse. Her Jazz/standard hit was Twisted, but she was Straight Ahead all the way…I know she’ll be swinging somewhere in the Universe…”

Born Annabelle Allan Short in 1930, in Surrey, England, Ross moved to the U.S. with her Vaudeville actor parents, John and Mary Short, when she was four. She would grow...

Showtime is developing a limited series about entertainment icon and activist Lena Horne.

The series is currently titled “Blackbird: Lena Horne and America,” named for Horne’s favorite poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Jenny Lumet, Horne’s granddaughter, will co-write the first few episodes of the series with Alex Kurtzman, with both also executive producing.

The series will span 60 years of Horne’s life, from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom in the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, and her triumphant return to Broadway. It will also delve into her relationships with luminaries like Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner, and Orson Welles

“Bringing my grandmother’s story to the screen required a multi-generational effort,” said Lumet. “Grandma passed her stories to my mother, who now passes them to me,...

Showtime is developing a limited series about the life of entertainer and activist Lena Horne, with Horne’s granddaughter Jenny Lumet writing and executive producing.

Lumet will write the first few episodes with her longtime producing partner, Alex Kurtzman. The series will be produced by CBS TV Studios and Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Heather Kadin will serve as an executive producer as well.

“Bringing my grandmother’s story to the screen required a multi-generational effort,” said Lumet. “Grandma passed her stories to my mother, who now passes them to me, so I may pass them to the children of our family. Lena’s story is so intimate and at the same time, it’s the story of America – America at its most honest, most musical, most tragic and most joyous. It’s crucial now. Especially now. She was the love of my life.”

Also Read: CBS Fall Schedule: Chuck Lorre...

The life of entertainer and activist Lena Horne is to be turned into a limited series by Showtime with Alex Kurtzman and Horne’s granddaughter Jenny Lumet.

The ViacomCBS-backed cable network is developing Blackbird: Lena Horne and America and will tell her story from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom of the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement and her triumphant return to Broadway.

It will explore her relationships with Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner and Orson Welles and look at how she navigated stardom during Jim Crow as a direct descendant of slaves and their enslavers.

The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios and Secret Hideout and Heather Kadin, who worked with Kurtzman on Star Trek: Discovery, will also exec produce alongside Lumet, who wrote Rachel Getting Married...

Johnny Mandel, the prolific composer and arranger who worked with Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Barbra Streisand and more — and famously composed the theme song for M*A*S*H — has died, Variety reports. He was 94.

No specifics about Mandel’s death have been revealed. The news was shared by singer and friend Michael Feinstein on Facebook early Tuesday morning: “A dear friend and extraordinary composer-arranger and all-around brilliant talent Johnny Mandel just passed away. The world will never be quite the same without his humor, wit and wry view of life and the human condition.

Johnny Mandel, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning songwriter of “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “Emily” and the theme from “Mash,” has died. He was 94.

“I was so sad to learn that a hero of mine, Johnny Mandel, passed away,” wrote Michael Buble on Twitter. “He was a genius and one of my favorite writers, arrangers, and personalities. He was a beast.”

“A dear friend and extraordinary composer arranger and all-around brilliant talent, Johnny Mandel, just passed away,” wrote Michael Feinstein on Facebook. “The world will never be quite the same without his humor, wit and wry view of life and the human condition. He was truly beyond compare, and nobody could write or arrange the way he did. Lord will we miss him. Let’s celebrate him with his music! He would like that.”

Mandel was considered one of the finest arrangers of the second half of the 20th century, providing...

Film-maker known for his world music documentaries, in particular his Beats of the Heart series

Jeremy Marre, who has died aged 76, was a British documentary maker specialising in films about popular music of every possible kind. Widely travelled, and with eclectic taste, he had a lengthy career that included adventurous documentaries about music in Africa, the Americas, the UK and the Us, and profiles of artists such as Phil Spector, Roy Orbison, Youssou N’Dour and Count Basie.

His first major success was Roots Rock Reggae (1977), which grew out of an earlier commission on the British reggae scene for the ITV arts programme Aquarius. Deciding that he needed to go to Jamaica to fully understand the music, Marre “scraped together some money” and travelled to Kingston, filming in lawless areas of the city. Threatened by some locals who accused him of being a CIA agent, he convinced them he was English...

When we talk about rock, we talk about bands: Zeppelin, the Who, the Stones. But when we talk about jazz, we tend to talk about individuals: Miles, Monk, Coltrane. On some level, that makes sense: If the song is the primary mode of rock expression, the solo is generally the way you make your mark in jazz. Whether you’re considering Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Hubbard, or the colossal, now-retired Sonny Rollins, it was when they stepped out front and said their piece that they truly embodied their legendary status.

Jean-Paul Gaster still remembers the moment he realized the first heavy-metal band were playing jazz.

Growing up near Washington, D.C., the drummer — who for nearly 30 years has brought a loose-limbed swagger to the rhythms of esteemed hard-rock band Clutch — would sit with his father and watch live concerts on public television. Performances by big-band jazz greats Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa made a particularly strong impression on him.

A few years later, heavier sounds came onto his radar via bands like Black Sabbath and Zz Top. At first, Gaster...

In our new series, we look at eight cities where live music has exploded — from legendary hubs like New Orleans and Nashville and Chicago, to rising hot spots like Raleigh, North Carolina and Portland, Maine. The latest: Tulsa, where history, social consciousness and barroom jamming make it one of the most fun places to visit right now.

Jack White remembers the first time he stepped inside Cain’s Ballroom, a 1920s Tulsa dance hall where Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys once broadcast their weekly radio shows. “I basically almost...

Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Billie, James Erskine’s documentary about the life of iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday that world premiered over Labor Day weekend at the Telluride Film Festival. A 2020 release date is in the works from the distributor, which in 2019 released Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, which was one of the year’s top-grossing documentaries.

Billie features newly unearthed interviews from those who knew Holiday best — Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie among them — and features performances restored into color for the first time. It helps paint the picture of a singer with breathtaking talent and global popularity, and whose song “Strange Fruit” exposed the realities of black life in America and earned her powerful enemies over her short, turbulent life. She died almost penniless in 1959 at age 44.

The documentary weaves her story through one of her most enamored fans,...

In this episode, Ben and Daniel talk to Tony-winning lyricist and director Scott Wittman about Frank Sinatra's 1966 live album, 'Sinatra at the Sands.' They also discuss Bette Midler, Patti LuPone, Sammy Davis Jr, Edie Beale, Christine Ebersole, Count Basie, Barbara Cook, Dusty Springfield, Ute Lemper, and Bridget Everett. Scott talks about playing 'cocktail lounge' growing up, and how his love for live albums influenced his career in theater and cabaret. Scott has worked on a number of successful Broadway shows such as 'Hairspray,' 'Catch Me If You Can,' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' as well as the TV show 'Smash' and the movie 'Mary Poppins Returns.'...

It feels unnatural to think of New York City without the Apollo Theater, yet more than once during the production of HBO’s “The Apollo,” Roger Ross Williams’ documentary about the Harlem landmark, the doors were in danger of closing for good.

That’s just one of many stories you’ll discover watching this exhaustive compendium of archival riches and fond first-person memories by many of the audience regulars, the star-studded acts who graced its stage, and some of the hopefuls still looking to be a part of the Apollo’s history.

Throughout “The Apollo,” Williams vacillates between the theater’s past and present, thematically connecting how some things have changed while others have stayed the same. Through the testimonies of historians and academics, as well as first-hand accounts, the director traces the history of the Apollo as one of the few venues that allowed Black performers not only on...

Ronnie Scott’s, an iconic British music venue dubbed the “world’s favorite jazz club,” is the subject of a new feature documentary. Kew Media Distribution has boarded sales on “Ronnie’s” (working title) and is warming up buyers at Cannes.

The club is situated in the heart of London’s Soho district. Founded by late saxophonist Ronnie Scott and Pete King, who were inspired by the vibrant post-war jazz venues in New York, it opened its doors 60 years ago, in 1959. Since then, the club has hosted the world’s greatest jazz legends, including Chet Baker, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Buddy Rich and Nina Simone.

Norah Jones and actor-and-musician Jeff Goldblum are among more recent performers at the club, which also attracts stars of other musical genres, such as Lady Gaga in 2015 and Prince a year earlier.

The film will tell the story of...