Don McGlynn – MRQE

The Legend of Teddy Edwards

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The virtual epitome of the Los Angeles jazz scene, tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards’ impassioned playing and inimitable style has inspired generations of musicians. Working with everyone from Benny Goodman to Tom Waits, this documentary follows Edwards’ stunning six-decade career as a musician through exploration of his unique innovations as well as the highs and lows of his extraordinary life.

Louis Prima: The Wildest!

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Documentary about the mid-20th century Vegas bandleader and trumpeter Louis Prima, who showed the world what a rock show could be.

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Don McGlynn’s uncompromising and soulful documentary look at the tumultuous life of musician and rebel Charles Mingus is fascinating stuff. Mingus said of himself “I am half black man, half yellow man, but I claim to be a Negro. I am Charles Mingus, the famed jazz musician–but not famed enough to make a living in America.” His statement summed up the conflict that plagued this musical genius his entire life: volatility, pain, prescience, and raw rage roiled inside a complex man, composer, bass player, and trombonist who transcended labels and refused to be pigeonholed into a single musical style–and who did not achieve real fame until late in his career.

Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Saxophonist Art Pepper (1925-1982) lived the kind of jazz life only found in Hollywood movies. His prodigious talent led him to top gigs as a teenager, but drugs and attendant criminal activity knocked him out of commission for virtually all of the 1960s and early 1970s. This documentary, shot shortly after his searing memoir, {-Straight Life}, was published in 1979, shows Pepper in the full flower of a remarkable comeback. His third wife, Laurie, is featured prominently; they met in the drug treatment facility Synanon in 1969 and were married in 1974. She took over his business affairs and helped him write {-Straight Life}. Pepper tells his own story here, but the emphasis is on an evening’s performance at a club in Malibu, with the musician in fine form, backed by a terrific trio. (Tom Wiener, Rovi)