My favourite film about music has to be Calle 54. It’s part documentary, mostly music performance — all Latin Jazz. As these things go, it makes Buena Vista Social Club look like a bunch of old men sitting round playing the piano.
It’s a film packed with highlights — and top-of-their-game performances from Jerry and Andy Gonzalez, Tito Puente (his last recorded performance before he died), Chucho and Bebo Valdés (a father/son reunion), Michel Camilo, Gato Barbieri, Eliane Elias, Chano Dominguez, Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdés, Orlando ‘Puntilla’ Ríos and legendary bassist Cachao.
The soundtrack is great, but you should really own the DVD. You have to see these performances to really get just what’s going on. To tempt you, here’s Michel Camilo’s performance — described in an All About Jazz article thus:
Dominican keyboardist Michel Camilo flashes a toothy boyish grin while leading his trio through a breakneck “From Within” with its merengue/pambiche flavor. This is another instance in which film adds a second dimension of pleasure to the music, as we watch Camilo’s lightning-quick hands literally blur like hummingbird wings. Rarely, if ever, has musician and instrument be captured with more compelling drama not to mention aesthetic wholeness due to the camera’s active role as a fourth albeit invisible player.
Camilo’s other trio members are similarly spectacular. Anthony Jackson (known in our house as ‘Bassface’ for reasons that will become apparent if you watch the video) plays an instrument of his own invention – an electric contrabass guitar (now more commonly known as the 6-string bass) — and Horatio ‘El Negro’ Hernandez introduces footpedal cowbell as well as double basspedals to a drumkit pimped up with all the Latin percussion it can muster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXT07AnkYRE
Sadly, the Youtube video doesn’t convey just how beautifully filmed and recorded this performance was — but all the same, unbelievable stuff.
