When I first heard about the new French film, Mozart’s Sister, I immediately marked November 4th on my calendar, because Rene Feret’s new film opens at DC’s E Street Cinema today! Feret has made clear that the film is largely fiction, with historical roots in the Mozart family dynamics and women’s status in 18th-century Austrian …
Archive for the ‘Film’ Category (11 posts)
Dancer/ Choreographer Bob Fosse was born on this day in 1927. Among his accomplishments are classics of both stage and screen. He won eight Tony awards for his choreography in shows like The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, and Sweet Charity. The Broadway revival of Chicago, for which Fosse co-wrote the book, holds the record for …
Posted in: Birthdays, Collections, Dance, Film, Pic of the Week
I first met composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram 25 years ago when we did a late night radio interview at WPFW-FM. I knew about his music, of course, his film scores (The Manchurian Candidate, Splendor In The Grass, Pull My Daisy) and collaborations with leading jazz, classical, folk and world music artists. But that free-wheeling …
Posted in: Composers, Film, Pic of the Week, Uncategorized
The following post is by Larry Appelbaum, Senior Reference Specialist, Music Division. For the final night of the Library’s Jazz Film Series, we celebrate composer David Amram, who at age 80 continues to break ground in jazz, classical and world music. As a jazz French horn player, Amram worked with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy …
Next week, the Music Division’s popular jazz film series returns to the Mary Pickford Theater. Senior Reference Specialist and In the Muse blogger Larry Appelbaum curated the series and provided program notes. Monday evenings at 7:00 pm – Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building. No tickets or reservations needed. Limited seating begins at 6:30pm. …
Posted in: Film
This month the Music Division is excited to sponsor a special film series called Celebrating the Oscars at the Nation’s Library, curated by Music Reference Specialist James Wintle. Every Wednesday evening for the next four weeks, the public is welcome and encouraged to join us for screenings of the following Oscar-winning films: March 9, 7:00pm …
Posted in: Film
Today we release another one hundred images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection to Flickr Commons. This week’s selection offers iconic photos of the trumpet legend Louis Armstrong, clarinet player Sidney Bechet, composer Leonard Bernstein, and vocalist June Christy. And, as is often the case, there is something unexpected in the mix. This week’s surprise is a series of …
Posted in: Collections, Film, Musicians
Next Monday, April 26th, the Mary Pickford Theater will screen Jellie Dekker’s Han Bennink: Hazentijd (2009), the last in the film series Jazz in the Spring curated by Larry Appelbaum. Dutch Drummer and visual artist Han Bennink, who celebrated his 68th birthday on April 17th, is the subject of this stylized documentary, which follows Bennink’s …
“Jazz to me is a living music. It’s a music that since its beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, hopes, of the people.” Those are the words of tenor saxophone great Dexter Gordon, born in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 1923. Gordon performed with Lionel Hampton’s and Louis Armstrong’s bands in the 1940s, and …
Posted in: Acquisitions, Collections, Film, Musicians
You may not know the name Raymond Scott (1908-1994), but if you spent any of your formative years, and perhaps some of your adult years, watching Warner Brothers cartoons, you’ve heard his music. Scott’s “Powerhouse” is among the iconic cartoon music compositions, featured in any number of assembly line scenes – not just in Warner …
