Satchmo the Great

An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.

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.

A young trumpeter rises through the jazz world and finds love.

Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.

It is the story of Ted Lewis, popular band leader and clarinettist. The music for the film was written by Harry Akst and Grant Clarke, except for "St. Louis Blues" by W. C. Handy and "Tiger Rag". The film's title comes from Lewis's catchphrase "Is everybody happy?" The film's soundtrack exists on Vitaphone discs preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, but the film itself is considered a lost film, according to the Vitaphone Project website. A five minute clip from the film can be found on YouTube.

This is the story of Ted Lewis, popular band leader and clarinettist.

Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he can't stay away from the music of the streets and workers. After he writes a theme song for a local politician, Gogo, a speakeasy singer, convinces Will to be her accompanist. Will is estranged from his father for many years while he writes and publishes many blues songs. At last the family is reunited when Gogo brings them to New York to see Will's music played by a symphony orchestra.

The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.

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.

A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.

A gambling hall owner relocates from New Orleans to Chicago and entertains his patrons with hot jazz by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, and others.

Juile, an airline hostess, has her mind made up to marry South American millionaire Rico Vargas, in spite of the efforts made by her former boyfriend, Lee Darling, a television star, to win her back. Rico's sister, Astra, makes a play for Lee, who only responds to make Julie jealous. As the plane bearing Juile and others (includng all the credited musicians and bands) is about to depart, Herb Jefferies smuggles Lee on board so he can have a chance to dissuade Julie.

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.

An intimate look into the personal lives of pop music's greatest and most influential artists.

An American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show is based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name. With a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although fictional, it was based heavily on the actual Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. Most interior scenes were filmed in Hollywood, California, and in all seasons but the third, several exterior scenes were shot on location in New York City. The popularity of the series, particularly in the UK, led to several hit records and live concert tours by the cast. Despite its success, very few of the actors maintained high-profile careers after the series was cancelled. A number of the cast members were seen again briefly in Bring Back...Fame, a reunion special made for British television in 2008.

Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling country-folk-rock band looking for their big break amid madcap encounters with a variety of people straight out of TV and movie central casting, with full knowledge that their existence is part of a weekly television series

A songwriting duo tries to create a hit with a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.

Tremé takes its name from a neighborhood of New Orleans and portrays life in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane. Beginning three months after Hurricane Katrina, the residents of New Orleans, including musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians, and other New Orleanians struggle to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture.

Memphis Beat is an American drama series that debuted on TNT on June 22, 2010 and ended on August 16, 2011. Memphis Beat was officially canceled on October 14, 2011.

A vocal contest reality series featuring people with real talent and great voices. Only the very best singers make it through the the blind auditions, the decisions from the four celebrity coaches are based solely on the voices they hear - and nothing else.

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

Howard Goodall examines the work of The Beatles, Cole Porter, Bernard Herrmann and Leonard Bernstein.

In 1970s New York, jaded record exec Richie Finestra tries to resurrect his failing label and fractured personal life while keeping his finger on the pulse of the city's new sound.

Chronicles the life of Judy Garland, from her first public performance in 1924 until her death.

A two-part miniseries. Dramatizes the events leading up to the 1954 Supreme Court decision on school desegregation, "Brown vs. Board of Education."

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard's chair of Afro-American Studies, travels the length and breadth of the United States to take the temperature of black America at the start of the new century. He explores this rich and diverse landscape, social as well as geographic, and meets the people who are defining black America, from the most famous and influential to those at the grassroots.

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.

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.