Jazz and Blues on Film

Even when filmmakers take liberty with artist biographies or reveal ignorance over what the music truly symbolizes, jazz and blues can ignite any motion picture.

In this 90-minute multimedia presentation, film historian Max Alvarez discusses the early history of jazz and blues in cinema, from pioneering sound musical shorts featuring Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington, to periodic features enlivened with the musical genius of Fats Waller, Gene Krupa, and Lena Horne.