Best movies like Improvisation

Beverly Ross, the switchboard operator at a local radio station, jumps at the chance to be the DJ for an early morning show before the soldiers at a nearby army camp assemble for reveille. Beverly, with her modern music, camp bulletins and chatter, is a hit with the soldiers. Beverly's younger brother and his two buddies are soldiers at the camp. The buddies vie for Beverly's attentions.

Rhythm and Blues Revue is a plotless variety show, one of several compiled for theatrical exhibition from the made-for-television short films produced by Snader and Studio Telescriptions, with newly-filmed host segments by Willie Bryant. Originally 86 minutes, the "short" version available on public domain collections and websites is missing a reel

Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.

Jamboree adheres to the usual formula of late-1950s rock&roll films: A plethora of musical numbers linked together by the wispiest of plotlines. Kay Medford heads the cast as manipulative showbiz agent Grace Shaw. Hoping to land pop singer Pete Porter (Paul Carr), Grace connives to break up Pete's romance with female vocalist Honey Wynn (Freda Holloway). But who cares? The audience came to see such musical faves as Fats Domino, Count Basie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jodie Sands, Ron Coby, Slim Whitman, Carl Perkins, Frankie Avalon, Charlie Gracie and the Four Coins. As a promotional tie-in, Jamboree also features appearances by 21 of North America's top rock-and-roll deejays.

In this short film, prominent jazz musicians of the 1940s gather for a rare filming of a jam session. This highly stylized chronicle features tenor sax legend Lester Young.

Set at the Newport jazz festival in 1958, this documentary mixes images of water and the town with performers and audience. The film progresses from day to night and from improvisational music to Gospel. It's a concert film that suggests peace and leisure, jazz at a particular time and place.

The film is made up of one single take. The camera pans to the left, focusing on a dilapidated fence in a rural field, as Ella Fitzgerald's "All My Life" plays on the soundtrack. At the end of the 3 minute film, the camera tilts up to the blue sky just as the song ends.

Cabaret entertainer Ruby Carter shifts her operations to New Orleans and becomes exceedingly popular with the local men.

The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.

Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.

Ned is in the throes of a mid-life crisis. His work as a writer on an outrageous, semi-pornographic TV show is less than satisfying. His fifteen year old son has just told him he is gay and his eleven year old is afraid of, well pretty much everything. When his wife, Jeannie, moves her sick and embittered father from Detroit into their home in NY, it puts added stress on an already strained marriage. And when a sexy female co-worker puts the moves on Ned, the temptation sends him spiraling.

A pretty fashion buyer visiting Paris on business is courted by a famous designer. Boris Sagal's 1966 romantic comedy stars Ann-Margret, Louis Jourdan, Richard Crenna, Chad Everett, Edie Adams, John McGiver, Reta Shaw and Count Basie.

Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities, someone is attempting to injure the leading lady Ann Ware, who wants to marry leading man Eric Lander. Stage manager Jack Ellery calls in his friend, policeman Bill Murdock, to help him investigate. Bill thinks Jack is offering to let him see the show from an unusual viewpoint after he forgot to get him tickets for the performance, but then they find the corpse of a murdered woman and Bill immediately suspects Eric of the crime.

Director — and piano player — Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addition to interviews and performances by such living legends as Pinetop Perkins and Jay McShann, as well as Dave Brubeck and Marcia Ball.

A chronological look at the life and career of jazz musician, composer, and performer Dave Brubeck (1920-2012 ), presented through contemporary interviews, archival footage of interviews and performances, and commentary by family, fellow musicians, and aficionados. Emphases include his mother's influence, his wife's invention of college tours, his skill as an accompanist, the great quartet (with Desmond, Morello, and Wright), his ability to find musical ideas everywhere, his orchestral compositions, his religious conversion, and his unflagging sweet nature.

Set on the quiet campus of Yellowstream University, this comedy follows the rivalries that build between two of the college's fraternities. When they're not mooning everyone they pass and throwing garbage on the lawns of rival frats, the members of the Pi Kappa Delta fraternity are mainly interested in drinking and... well, drinking. When a campus-wide farting contest is announced, Grossout, the leader of the Deltas, is all too eager to stand up, bend over and defend the honor of his fraternity.

This lively film is an unforgettable portrait of legendary vocalist Betty Carter, one of the greatest living exponents of jazz. Uncompromised by commercialism throughout her long career, she has forged alternative criteria for success — including founding her own recording company and raising her two sons as a single parent. Parkerson's special film captures Carter's musical genius, her paradoxical relationship with the public and her fierce dedication to personal and artistic independence.

A recovering alcoholic and jazz pianist in NYC confronts his acerbic family during their annual Fourth of July vacation.

In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.

Before MTV and the age of television, there were Soundies. First appearing in 1941, these three minute black-and-white films featured artists of the Big Band, Jazz and Swing era, like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, The Mills Brothers, Les Paul, Cab Calloway, and Fats Waller. The Soundies helped launch the careers of Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Liberace, and Dorothy Dandridge, among others. Viewed for a dime through a special machine called a Panoram, a movie jukebox, these forerunners to the music video could be seen in nightclubs, roadhouses, restaurants and other public venues across the U.S. These classic films remain as glorious time capsules of music, social history, popular culture, and tell the story of a crossroads in our country, when the uncertainties of war, race relations, and emerging technologies combined to write one of the most influential chapters in our nation¹s history.

A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.

The documentary tracks the diva's difficult progress as she emerges from the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of the big bands of the 30s and 40s, to fill nightclubs and saloons across the US in the 50s and early 60s as a force in her own right. Looking at the lives and careers of six individual singers (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Annie Ross), the film not only talks to those who knew and worked with these queens of jazz, but also to contemporary singers who sit on the shoulders of these trailblazing talents without having to endure the pain and hardship it took for them to make their highly individual voices heard above the prejudice of mid-century America.

In this melodrama from Barbara Cartland's 1975 bestseller, a turn-of-the-century American heiress, while en route to her betrothal to an English duke, encounters love and intrigue in the arms of a French journalist.

The film explores a woman's self destruction & healing from the traumatic after effects of rape within her relationship.

Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. They struggle to get their jazz music accepted by the cafe society of the city. Betty Lou joins their band as a singer and gets Louie to show her how to do scat singing. Memphis and Jeff both fall in love with Betty Lou.

Eagles Live At The Capital Centre - March 1977, featuring never-before-released performances from the Eagles’ two-night stand at Washington, D.C.’s Capital Center during the legendary Hotel California tour.

Live at Montreux 1986 is a concert video release by the British band Talk Talk of a concert at 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival. The show was part of a tour that started in April 1986 to promote the band's recent album The Colour of Spring, and was to be their only appearance at Montreux, from their last tour. The video captures Talk Talk at the peak of their career.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live! is an American concert television special featuring live performances by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga in support of their collaborative studio album, Cheek to Cheek, released in September 2014. It was held at the Rose Theater of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in July following the announcement of the album's release, and was aired on PBS on October 24, 2014, as part of the network's Great Performances series. The concert was watched by an audience consisting of invited guests and students from New York schools. Bennett and Gaga were joined on stage by 39-piece orchestra and jazz musicians associated with both artists.

Status Quo's album "Pictures" (released in November 2008) celebrated 40 years of Status Quo filling the UK charts with hit after hit. The album was an instant success, charting at No.8 and selling over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone. In July 2009 the Pictures live tour landed at Montreux in Switzerland as part of the world famous festival.

Alanis Morissette is one of the most successful female artists and songwriters of all time and has sold in excess of 60 million albums worldwide. Her voice is instantly recognisable and she is a consummate live performer. On 2 July 2012 Alanis Morissette returned to Montreux as part of her Guardian Angel Tour in support of her new album Havoc And Bright Lights . It was her third appearance at the festival. The set showcased a number of tracks from the new album (at that point still to be released) alongside classic tracks from across her career. This is Alanis Morissette live at her very best. TRACKLIST 1) I Remain 2) Woman Down 3) All I Really Want 4) You Learn 5) Guardian 6) Flinch 7) Forgiven 8) Hands Clean 9) I Remain 10) Citizen Of The Planet 11) Ironic 12) Havoc 13) Head Over Feet 14) Versions Of Violence 15) I Remain 16) You Oughta Know 17) Numb 18) Hand In My Pocket 19) Uninvited 20) Thank U

Shot on location in New York City and starring an ensemble cast of New York City Ballet dancers, NY Export: Opus Jazz takes Jerome Robbins‘ 1958 “ballet in sneakers” and reimagines it for a new generation in this scripted adaptation. After winning an Audience Award at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, the film aired nationally on PBS’ Great Performances series and was nominated for the Rose d’Or Award.

Starring Angela Gheorghiu as the celebrated French actress Adriana Lecouvreur and Jonas Kaufmann as her lover Maurizio, Count of Saxony, Cilea s verismo drama explores celebrity, romance, jealousy, and death. The trio of sublime voices is completed by Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina as Adriana s jealous rival, the Princess de Bouillon. David McVicar s hit production the first performance of the opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for more than a century presents the life of the French actress as a blurring of the distinction between fantasy and reality. The action revolves around a life-size Baroque Theatre, taking us from the bustle and colour of the first act backstage at the playhouse, to the bare final scenes as the drama reaches its fatal climax.

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

The triumphs and challenges of Negro League baseball in the early 20th century. Through rare footage and interviews with iconic players like Satchel Paige and Buck O'Neil, as well as Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, the film highlights the league's pivotal role in Black communities and the impact of integration.

The history of New York City's Apollo Theater in Harlem is given the full treatment.