Jazz Documental

Guy Barker's Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra join forces at the Cheltenham Jazz festival, bringing together the very best in jazz and soul.

Documentary celebrating the founding of Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in 1959. Scott, a rising young saxophone player, opened a club where he and his friends could play the music they liked. Over the following years, the club had its ups and downs, reflecting the changes in attitudes to jazz and the social life of surrounding Soho.

Queens of Jazz is a celebration of some of the greatest female jazz singers of the 20th century. It takes an unflinching and revealing look at what it actually took to be a jazz diva during a turbulent time in America's social history - a time when battle lines were being constantly drawn around issues of race, gender and popular culture. This is a documentary about how these women triumphed - always at some personal cost - to become some of the greatest artists of the 20th century; women who chose singing above life itself because singing was their life.

The story of Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins.

The 2020 final of BBC Young Jazz Musician comes from London's Cadogan Hall. Hosted by saxophonist, composer and broadcaster YolanDa Brown and filmed in the absence of an audience, the final features five of the UK's most promising young jazz performers: saxophonists Alex Clarke and Matt Carmichael, bassist Kielan Sheard, pianist Deschanel Gordon and guitarist Ralph Porrett.

A real treat for anyone who loves listening to the tinkling of the jazz piano, with classics from Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Abdullah Ibrahim, Stan Tracey and Jacques Loussier to Duke Ellington, Return to Forever and Herbie Hancock. The performances are culled from cult classic programmes such as Jazz 625, Show of the Week, Late Night Line Up, Love You Madly, Birdland, The Late Show and Later… with Jools Holland, and date from 1964 to 2009. Be it bebop, swing or contemporary, Jazz Piano Gold is a must for all jazz piano fans.

Jazz Icons: Jimmy Smith boasts an incredible 90-minute concert from 1969 filmed in Paris. Working in his classic trio format (with longtime guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Charlie Crosby), Jimmy shows why he is still the uncontested king of the jazz organ. Highlights include blues jams “Got My Mojo Working” and “Sonnymoon For Two,” the classic ballads “Alfie” and “Satin Doll,” as well as a blinding 23-minute version of his showcase number “The Sermon.”

Jazz Icons: Sonny Rollins features two intimate concerts filmed in the 60s for Danish television at the pinnacle of one of his most creative periods. Rollins is joined by some of the most legendary sidemen in jazz history, including 19-year-old Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, drum master Alan Dawson and pianist Kenny Drew.

In the first live BBC black and white TV programme since the 1970s, BBC Four is bringing back the iconic 1960’s BBC show Jazz 625 with Jazz 625 Live: For One Night Only. Broadcasting live from Cheltenham during the Jazz Festival, the special show will feature a house band - led by pianist Robert Mitchell - with special guests including Joshua Redman, Jean Toussaint, Shirley Tetteh, Jacqui Dankworth and Gregory Porter. There’s also an exclusive recorded performance from legendary Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, showing off his jazz-chops in a quartet with saxophonist Scott Hamilton.

Jazz 625 Live: For One Night Only is a special 90-minute live show paying tribute to the iconic 1960s BBC Two jazz show of the same name. Broadcast live from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and hosted by Andi Oliver, the programme will feature a house band and special guests including Gregory Porter, Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones, Joshua Redman, Jacqui Dankworth and Cleo Laine. There will also be archive performances from the original series and interviews and features looking back at a classic time in jazz.