(Stream it here.). As intensely as she controls her brand, there’s a sense she’s still figuring it all out. This film highlights the pure genius of Quincy Jones that goes far beyond producing hits that have topped decades of charts. While no one could replace the late, great Freddie Mercury, one watch of this doc and you, too, will be convinced that it's by some sort of miracle that the rockers met Lambert when he was still a contestant on American Idol. The legendary trumpet player and band leader is of course best known for his musicianship but also his particularly difficult personality, all of which is dissected and demystified here in a biographic format that charts his entire life and innovative career over two hours. Quincy is not just a music documentary; it is an inspiring rags-to-riches tale of a boy who fell in love with music and through it found himself. It is essentially the perfect tribute to one of music's most dearly departed, recent geniuses. The film boasts archival content and never-before-seen footage. Gaga: Five Foot Two contextualizes the woman behind the belted anthems in everyday life, from seconds before her big Super Bowl halftime show to the doctor's office, where reality hits hard. Using archival photos, home movies, rare performance clips, excerpts from Coltrane’s writings (voiced by Denzel Washington) and firsthand accounts from friends, bandmates and famous fans, this film provides an intimate look at an iconic jazz pioneer whose musical influence still resounds today. Two decades after that, a documentary comes out, based on her interviews and recollections of the jazz musician's contemporaries. The enigmatic Thelonious Monk wasn’t one for explanations; he preferred to let his music do the talking. ), The jazz and R&B singer Nina Simone had a complicated relationship with the press, the music business and her own friends and family — in part because of mental illness, and in part because she was politically outspoken and confrontational. As MTV's Diary once bluntly stated, "You think you know... but you have no idea.".

But while you’re surely familiar with his music, you may not know much else about the man himself.

The Show Must Go On suggests that it's the result of fate that Queen founding members Brian May and Roger Taylor met Adam Lambert and have been able to carry on their live act with him as their vocalist. Separated by about 1,000 kilometres of the Gulf of Mexico, music is the lifeblood of both New Orleans and Havana. Clockwise from top left: A24; Spitfire Pictures; Netflix; Don Schlitten/Abramorama, A young Amy Winehouse, right, as seen in “Amy.”, Jakob Dylan, left, and Tom Petty in “Echo in the Canyon.”, Taylor Swift as seen in “Miss Americana.”, Nina Simone as seen in “What Happened, Miss Simone?”, Stream: “What the Constitution Means to Me”. Martin Scorsese loves a long-ass rock doc. Check out the best docs and docuseries available to stream on Netflix, and the best documentaries of 2020.

It may be a relatively straightforward documentary, but it's more than enough to tell Coltrane's story and let his music do the talking. The younger Dylan interviews surviving members of the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and the Mamas and the Papas; and he sings alongside the likes of Fiona Apple, Beck and Regina Spektor. Director Chris Perkel's documentary on Clive Davis is the equivalent of a greatest hits package. Now a career veteran at 85 years old, the industry icon shares insight into his life and career in a documentary directed by his daughter, actress Rashida Jones. Each episode has a theme and purpose: whether it’s describing a subgenre or covering a key moment in the history of rap. Our list of the best documentaries on Netflix includes true crime docuseries, political documentaries, docs about the making of movies, and much more. It's also a sweeping, loving overview of the life and career of the influential former Columbia and Arista Records president and RCA chair, with many iconic talking heads singing his praises. Though the doc veers into hagiography rather than a strictly informational look, seeing how Davis touched decades upon decades of popular music is a hit in itself. Sound familiar? Pop, rock and R&B fans will find a decent assortment of top-shelf concert films on Netflix, including “Springsteen on Broadway,” Beyoncé’s “Homecoming” and “Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids.” But performances alone don’t tell the fuller story of a musical act or a cultural movement.

In this documentary, director Charlotte Zwerin weaves illuminating interviews with friends and family together with up-close-and-personal footage of the pianist and composer in concert, on the road and in the studio, coaxing out an intimate view of the taciturn artist. Following the trumpeter and vocalist from his achievements with jazz giants like Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan in the 1950s up to his self-imposed exile in Europe in the ’80s, the film starkly juxtaposes the young, successful musician who earned comparisons to James Dean and Frank Sinatra against the older Baker still struggling with his addiction to heroin. But “20 Feet From Stardom” is ultimately more of a celebration than a lament, offering a fairly in-depth examination of how the personality and artistry of supporting musicians fits into the larger history of popular music. (Please note, movies and TV series regularly cycle on and off streaming services, so some of the titles below may not be available at the time you read this. In this Best Documentary Oscar winner, Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor) finally gives the women known for assisting major rock groups, from The Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen, the spotlight. ©2020 Group Nine Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Two decades later, she gives an interview to her night school teacher, then dies a year later. ), Who better to make a documentary about Quincy Jones than his own daughter: the actress, writer and producer Rashida Jones?
Your contribution helps keep jazz strong on air and in the community. Here are nine excellent jazz documentaries that you can watch online right now. Stop us if you've heard this one before: A preternaturally gifted jazz musician is murdered by his common-law wife, who went to prison for murder before being paroled and moving to North Carolina. The story of jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, who was shot to death following a gig during a New York City blizzard, and his wife/murderer is singular, making I Called Him Morgan necessary viewing for any jazz fan and everyone interested in the limits of human relationships.

Need help finding something to watch? Tambourine Man,” Jakob Dylan assembled musicians from his own generation who had been inspired by the sounds of Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Liz Garbus’s documentary “What Happened, Miss Simone?” includes interviews from people who knew Simone, which supplement extended performance footage, in which Simone stares down her audiences while singing some of the most thrilling American popular music of the 1960s. There is a scene early in director Lana Wilson's Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana where the pop star says, "My entire moral code is a need to be thought of as good." These two facts probably confirm whatever preconceived notions of EDM non-fans hold, but this look at Aoki's career and approach to music also illuminate a scene too often stereotyped as just a bunch of rich kids doing molly and dancing. Conversations with her daughter Lisa Simone Kelly and her longtime collaborator Al Shackman add fascinating perspective to that story. What emerges is an intimate portrait of a towering cultural figure. The film is a classic Dylan text and one for obsessives, featuring astounding archival footage and rare interviews to absorb, and an enlightening watch as Scorsese paints a full picture of the artist famously shrouded in mystery. Not just a doc about Dylan, “No Direction Home” is also about the changes sweeping through American culture in the first half of the 1960s, and how the artists who survived and thrived were the ones who could steal from the past while keeping an eye on the future. And it’s filled with insight into how the intense public scrutiny that comes with celebrity may set some stars up for catastrophic failure. (Stream it here.
‘Hip-Hop Evolution’ (2016-20) You’ll need to carve out some time in your schedule to watch all of … There is the Lady Gaga of then -- the meat dresses, the lobster hats -- and, as chronicled in this behind-the-scenes doc, the Gaga of now, a forceful, musical talent who's just as vulnerable as every other "little monster" on the planet. Not that I hadn’t already had Latin music in my life — I am Spanish, after all — but I had never before experienced the emotional reaction that Wim Wenders’s documentary awoke in me. As a black woman artist coming of age during the turbulent years of post-World War II America, Simone inspired legions of fans and alienated some of the people closest to her. (Stream it here.

If there ever was a quintessential rock star, it may as well be Keith Richards. John Scheinfeld's feature is as comprehensive look at the jazz icon's unfortunately short life that you'll find. His life was a path of struggle, intense creative focus, demons, pride, fight, valour and sensitivity. 2016 TV-14 1h 39m Historical Documentaries Featuring interviews, insights and archival footage, this documentary aims to reveal how historical events shaped the music of John Coltrane. Executively produced by his mother and Terrance Malick (A Hidden Life), the film sincerely brings light to who Peep was outside of his persona and the mental illness that he suffered from. (Stream it here. Of course, loving the subject only makes a music doc more enjoyable, and Netflix has a solid selection of music docs to help you wile away the hours pondering what it would be like if you had become a rock 'n' roll star. This documentary does a fantastic job of honouring Nina Simone and showing all of her complexity. The historic art form of jazz has long been a rich resource to be mined by documentary filmmakers. I Called Him Morgan (2016) The film tracks the musical adventures of Ry Cooder and his son Joaquin upon arriving in Cuba. ), You’ll need to carve out some time in your schedule to watch all of “Hip-Hop Evolution,” a 16-part series that’s been spread across four seasons. In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, lending additional weight to a New York Times critic’s declaration that its footage of Monk is “some of the most valuable jazz ever shot.”. At the forefront of the film, Richards shows the old man’s still got it.