Popular Culture Review Vol. 1, December 1989 | Page 57

Rogers and Cleavon Little to work for scale— The Gig tells the
story o f an amateur jazz band that finally gets a paying job.
“Farewell mere existance, hello jazz,” says one o f the characters.
A real musician, trumpeter Warren Vach66, played one of the
principal roles and served as the film ’s musical director. Much was
said about amateur and professional musicians as well as jazz.(8)
Round Midnight, however, changed everything. This 1986
film depicted the plight of expatriate jazz musicians in 1960s Paris,
and from the outset, the film makers put the music upfront. It did,
however, take a French director— the French have always adored
jazz— Bertrand Tavernier to mold a story with a character that was
part Bud Powell, part Lester Young, and all jazz musician.
For the title role, Tavernier chose saxophonist Dexter Gordon,
who had himself been an exile in Europe for fourteen years. Herbie
Hancock was hired to write the score and a handful o f musicians
were cast to portray the community of black American artists in
exile. On screen, the music and performances were recorded
simultaneously, avoiding what mars many films showing musi
cians playing: the often, shockingly out o f synch on screen action
with the sountrack and a continual source o f annoyance for musi
cians and devoted fans of the music.
Gordon’s performance garnered him a best actor nomination,
a first for jazz musicians, and the film was warmly received by the
jazz establishment. Commercial success for this decidedly Euro
pean film was another story, but whatever support it received came
again from Eastwood, who urged the studio to make the film and
stayed behind the scenes with both influence and financial backing.
By this time, Bird was already in the planning stages.
With Round Midnight jazz on film attained a new dimension.
With accurate storylines that encompassed major facets o f jazz
history and actors in principal roles, the music was finally accorded
the cinematic respect deserving of America’s only original art
form.

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