Jazz is my Native Language: A Portrait of Toshiko Akiyoshi

The Universal Language is a new documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground). This 30-minute film traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.” During the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people around the world spoke Esperanto and believed in its ideals. Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. In this first-ever documentary about Esperanto, Green creates a portrait of the language and those who speak it today that is at once humorous, poignant, stirring, and ultimately hopeful.

The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.

An examination, shown through both interviews and performances, of the avant-garde free jazz movement which reigned during the 1960s.

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.

Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.

A jazz pianist is haunted by his dead ex-lover's crawling hand and floating head.

A son seeking to fulfill his late father’s dream takes his band from the storied city of New Orleans to the shores of Cuba, where — through the universal language of music — dark and ancient connections between their peoples reveal the roots of jazz.

A documentary film about the life of pianist and jazz great Thelonious Monk. Features live performances by Monk and his band, and interviews with friends and family about the offbeat genius.

THUNDER SOUL tells the true story of Conrad O. Johnson and the legendary Kashmere Stage Band. It was afros, pleated pants and platform shoes; James Brown, Sly Stone and Bootsy Collins. It was the ’70s, and an inner-city Houston high school was about to make history. Charismatic band leader, Conrad “Prof” Johnson would turn the school’s mediocre jazz band into a legendary, world-class funk powerhouse. Now, 35 years later, his students prepare to pay tribute to the man who changed their lives, the 92-year-old Prof. Some haven’t played their horns in decades, still they dust off their instruments determined to retake the stage to show Prof and the world that they’ve still got it.

Eddie is a down-on-his-luck bar pianist who has just been fired from another job. Desperate for work, he finds a school looking for a leader for its hopelessly incompetent marching band. Somehow, Eddie has to whip these kids into shape in time for the big band competition. Can he get them to march without tripping over their own feet, let alone win the contest?

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.

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.

Badger Creek is a portrait of Native resilience as seen through a year in the life of three generations of a Blackfeet family living on the rez in Montana. The Mombergs are a loving, sober family who run a successful ranch, live a traditional worldview and are re-learning their language.

A documentary portrait of one of the world's superstars of Jazz, pianist Keith Jarrett, exploring his life and work.

Journalist Fabian Burstein looks behind the curtains of the porn industry. Starting in Budapest he heads westwards to explore a new world on its victory march rooted deeply in Austria. On this journey he meets the heroes and leading actors of this story: Austrians Mick Blue, Renee Pornero and Thomas Janisch. Porno Unplugged follows its native porn stars to where their lives happen. From east to west...

Pursued by Wilson Fisk's criminal empire, Maya's journey brings her home and she must confront her own family and legacy.

Humanity must resume its war against the Martians when they revive after decades of hibernation following their defeat in the 1950s. The fate of Earth may very well rest in the hands of a small yet courageous band: astrophysicist Harrison Blackwood, paraplegic computer wizard Norton Drake, microbiologist Suzanne McCullough and military man Paul Ironhorse.

An explosive 1930s drama following a jazz band in London at a time of huge change.

An exploration of the world's music. Yehudi Menuhin has created this expansive survey of musical traditions from five continents. With panoramic vision and infectious enthusiasm, he takes us from primeval rhythms of Africa to the symphonies of Beethoven, from plainsong to jazz, from Swiss yodeling to Irish jig, from steel drum to electronic synthesizer. The Music of Man was a series of eight hour-long specials with host Yehudi Menuhin, following the development of music from its beginnings at the dawn of history to the electronic experiments, jazz and rock of our own time. Menuhin, the renowned violinist, conductor and humanist, participated both as violin soloist and conductor throughout the series, and was also co-writer.

Jazz Casual was an occasional series on jazz music on National Educational Television, the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service. The show was produced by Richard Moore and KQED of San Francisco, California. Episodes ran for 30 minutes. It ran from 1961 to 1968 and was hosted by jazz critic Ralph Gleason. The series had a pilot program in 1960, however the episode has been destroyed. 31 episodes were broadcast; 28 episodes survive. Most episodes included short interviews with the group leaders.

Artists from the UK and Ireland compete by creating portraits of famous people.

A spectacularly animated program in which a group of bugs puts on a unique musical performance for an audience of fellow animals in the woods. Each bug plays a different instrument – improvising, dancing and singing along while introducing viewers to a variety of musical styles including samba, jazz, hip-hop and more.

1491: The Untold Story of the Americas before Columbus is based on the book “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” by Charles C. Mann (Knopf, 2005). It brings to life the complexity, diversity and interconnectedness of Indigenous peoples in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus. Presented from an Indigenous-perspective the series is a journey along a timeline that dates from 20,000 years ago to 1491. The origins and history of ancient Indigenous societies in North, Central and South America are interpreted by leading Indigenous scholars and cultural leaders in the fields of archaeology, art history, ethnology, genetics, geology, and linguistics.

Offers a reappraisal of "yacht rock", a critically neglected era of music popularized by a boom in FM radio stations and its smooth sound. The gleaming yacht sound was, in part, always defined by a group of LA-based session players and composers who worked across a range of yacht bands, informing their specific tone and level of musicianship. Some of these artists talk about the yacht phenomenon and being part of the scene back in the day. The series explores how the music adapted from the the bearded sensitivity of the '70s to the bombast of the MTV '80s, and how a satirical online drama contributed to a revival of interest and enthusiasm for these sounds in the digital era.

The owner of a Paris jazz club gets tangled up with dangerous criminals as he fights to protect his business, his band and his teenage daughter.

Long on style and perpetually short on cash, bounty hunters Spike, Jet and Faye trawl the solar system looking for jobs. But can they outrun Spike's past?

Masters of American Music is a multi-award-winning television series, as entertaining and memorable as it is educational, it is a must have for any true music fan. The series celebrates a pantheon of the greatest musical innovators with individual programmes tracing the lives and works of master musicians who defined the course of American’s musical history. From the birth of the blues in New Orleans to Swing, Big Band, Bebop, Free Jazz and beyond – all of this rich tapestry is explored with sensitivity and unique depth. The featured artists come to life through conversations with their contemporaries, exciting and rare live performances, period footage and vintage photographs, all of which have been meticulously produced.

A powerful portrait of tribal members and their communities within Big Horn County, Montana battling an epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) that has been prevalent since colonization. This docuseries examines the circumstances surrounding many of these cases, told solely through the perspectives of those involved: Native families, Native journalists, and local law enforcement officers.

A cinematic ode to jazz legend, Wayne Shorter. Depicted in 3 portals, the viewer is transported into prolific periods of Shorter's life and how through adversity, he grew to greatness, shattered the limitations of jazz, and became one of the most influential musicians and composers in American music.

Follow the officers and recruits of the Navajo Police Department through the rigorous training, the physical challenges, and the self-doubt, delving into their backstories to reveal an overview of life on the reservation and the motivations that drew them to the force. While the turbulent stories of Class 57 unfold in real time, the series provides an ever-widening portrait of the Navajo Nation at large.