24 April 2013, Posted in: Company news

Our next BBC documentary series starts this Monday, 29th April on BBC Radio 2 at 10pm, in which presenter Jamie Cullum gets to talk about two of his greatest passions – jazz and films.

In the two-part series ‘Jazz at the Movies’, Jamie celebrates the work of his favourite directors, and looks at the stories behind some of the best films with jazz as their subject, or jazz on their soundtrack.


“I fell in love with jazz and movies at about the same time”, says Jamie, who studied film at Reading University. “In fact, it was great films that first made me want to look into jazz music.”


Jamie’s very personal journey takes him from Al Jolson to Spike Lee, looking along the way at the films of Duke Ellington, Clint Eastwood and Jean-Luc Godard. And he gets to meet the man behind one of his favourite films of all time, “The Fabulous Baker Boys”.


Jamie visits the Los Angeles hotel where that movie’s iconic ballroom scene was set and even, through the magic of radio, gets to perform a duet with its star, Michelle Pfeiffer.


He talks to Clint Eastwood about rebuilding the music of Charlie Parker for his biographical film "Bird"; and to the legendary trumpeter Terence Blanchard about working with Spike Lee, and teaching Denzil Washington how to hold a trumpet properly. He also meets French jazz legend Martial Solal, responsible for the haunting soundtrack to the mould-breaking “Breathless (A Bout De Souffle)”.


“I love the work of Woody Allen, film noir and the French New Wave, so these programmes are an opportunity for me to show what happens when great jazz and great films meet.”


Part 1 of 'Jazz at the Movies' is broadcast on Monday 29th April at 10pm, and Part 2 is on Monday 6th May at 10pm.


For more info click here >


To read a preview on the LondonJazz blog click here >


To read a review in The Metro click here >


Watch Clint Eastwood talking jazz with Jamie here >