A silent film…about Louis Armstrong!
A new silent film about the greatest jazz musician of all time? At first blush, the most stupid idea since the chocolate fireguard. But the guy who thought of it, Dan Pritzker, is patently sincere:
“I was listening to Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin and Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). Gottschalk was a Creole who grew up in the French Quarter of New Orleans, probably within earshot of the famous Congo Square (now Louis Armstrong Park) where, for a time in his youth, slaves would gather on Sundays to dance, drum and sing songs derived from their African ancestry. I love his compositions. They are steeped in the European virtuoso piano styles of Chopin and Liszt, but the tunes Gottschalk wrote were the beginnings of American melodies, and perhaps echoes of what he heard coming out of Congo Square as a boy. Gottschalk, like Bolden and Armstrong, brought something new to the American musical landscape. From the outset, my intention was that the score for the silent film would incorporate Gottschalk pieces along with Wynton’s own compositions,” he told the Graun.
Against all the odds, it seems to work. Not least because he’s persuaded Wynton Marsalis to provide a score. Seven year old Anthony Coleman, who plays the young Louis, has an incredible presence:
The film can be seen tomorrow (Sunday 13 November, 3.00 pm) at the Barbican, as part of the London Jazz Festival. The score will be played live by a band of Marsalis associates, including trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and drummer Herlin Riley.
Martin Ohr said,
November 12, 2011 at 8:52 pm
I heard Pritzker interviewed on R4 the other morning- actually seems likes a very sensible concept the way he described it
Dave said,
November 13, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Marsalis was wonderful at Ronnie Scott’s when Stropps and I saw him a little while back. Even £60 a seat was a small price to pay to witness such genius in a small club. So the film should be good, even for those of us not too keen on Satchmo.