BLOG 22/02/2021
The Jan Diaries — Five Music Documentaries Worth the Netflix Subscription
Jan Kinčl begins this one with an admission: Netflix’s user-friendly interface has made him lazy. There was a time when finding a music film meant digging through obscure blogs, and neither Netflix nor HBO is anywhere near an inexhaustible source of genuinely interesting ones. But five titles survive the filter, and the column reviews them in turn, each with a suggested album to play afterwards.
What the piece covers
Hip Hop Evolution comes first and comes with a caveat. The series traces hip-hop from its origins in 1970s New York forward through the decades, hosted by Canadian rapper Shad Kabango and built from interviews with rappers, MCs, DJs and producers filmed at the places where it happened. Kinčl calls it a no-brainer and essential for anyone who loves the music — then notes the gap that undercuts it, which is how little room the narrative leaves for women. I Called Him Morgan is the opposite kind of film, narrow and devastating. Lee Morgan helped build the Blue Note sound and never reached the public standing of Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis, largely because he died young; the documentary runs his music and his relationship with Helen along the same thread until they meet. Kinčl recommends it to every jazz listener and suggests putting on The Sidewinder straight after.
What Happened, Miss Simone? follows Nina Simone across jazz, blues, folk and gospel, and does not soften either the social engagement or the temper she was known for. It deals with the mental health struggles that damaged her closest relationships even as her music was reaching enormous audiences, and it sets all of it against the position of a black woman musician in the United States after the Second World War. Baltimore is the recommended follow-up. The Black Godfather is barely a music film at all, but Clarence Avant’s reach through the entertainment industry earns it a place: from managing jazz bands in the 1950s to brokering the deals that shaped black representation in music, sport and politics, up to Barack Obama’s 2004 speech. Kinčl’s verdict is that Avant is an impossibly cool man.
The part that stayed
The list closes with Quincy, two hours on Quincy Jones directed by his daughter Rashida, and here Kinčl is candid rather than enthusiastic. If you already know the eighty-year arc — trumpeter, producer, arranger, composer — the film will not tell you much that is new. It is beautifully made and thoroughly entertaining anyway, and Walking In Space is waiting when the credits roll.
Read the full piece
The full column, in Croatian, is on Red Bull Croatia. Three minutes.
The Jan Diaries | Glazbeni filmovi na Netflixu → redbull.com