Storyline In Harlem, Bud Peagler's "Barbecue Lunch and Poolroom" (the home of
Brunswick Stew), also serves as the meeting place and hangout for many
citizens and organizations such as 'The Sons and Daughters of The I Will
Arise Society," and also Mosby's Blues Blowers. It is also where Roscoe
Driggers hangs out. Roscoe claims to be the world's champion cornet
player, although he can't play a note, even a sour one. But when the
chance to earn $500 for playing his cornet at the big concert held by
the "Over the River Burying Society" arises, Roscoe signs up. Roscoe
needs $500 in order to buy a beauty shop for his manicurist-fiancée,
Zenia Sprowl.
Roscoe makes plans for his buddy Sam Ginn, who can play a
cornet, to hide under the stage and play while Roscoe fakes it on the
stage. But Sam gets taken out by some dudes who have a bone to pick with
Roscoe. No sweat, though, as another of Roscoe's musician friends,
Willie Trout, sees this and takes Sam's place under the stage....with
his saxophone.
Storyline Duke Ellington plays his symphonic jazz piece ('A Rhapsody of Negro
Life') with his orchestra against slice-of-life background scenes. The
four movements: 1) The Laborers, 2) A Triangle: Dance, Jealousy, Blues,
3) A Hymn of Sorrow, 4) Harlem Rhythm.
Storyline Music's greatest legends re-enact the birth of jazz in this
song-filled tribute to the town where it all began: New Orleans! Arturo
de Cordova stars as Nick, the proprietor of a Bourbon Street gambling
joint, and artistic haven for African-American musicians. When he falls
for an opera-singing socialite, Nick realizes that only through music
will he gain respectability, and launches a campaign to bring jazz to
the highbrow American stage.
A refreshing rediscovery, New Orleans is
especially noteworthy for its lack of racial stereotypes, as well as the
high caliber of performances delivered by its stellar cast, including
Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman, Kid Ory, Meade Lux Lewis and more.
Perhaps the film's most memorable number is "Farewell to Storyville", a
haunting blues melody sung by Billie Holiday as she leads a procession
of black musicians exiled from the city -- a sequence that beautifully
captures the melancholy and grace of Holiday's inimitable performance
style. Other musical highlights include Holiday's rendition of "New
Orleans", Armstrong's "Endie" and "Where The Blues Were Born", and their
duet "The Blues Are Brewin". Also included in this DVD are two musical
shorts from Paramount Studios (A Rhapsody In Black And Blue featuring
Armstrong and Symphony In Black with Holiday and Duke Ellington) as well
as an essay on the making of New Orleans, which originated as a project
for Orson Welles.
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