Documentarian Gary Keys specializes in films about jazz musicians, and this follow-up to
Memories of Duke returns to one of his favorite subjects: composer and band leader Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington. This film's scope is deliberately small. Since Ellington's death in 1974, his sister, Ruth Ellington Boatwright, has thrown a birthday party that brings together musicians, collaborators, friends and devotees for a night of food, reminiscing and impromptu performances. Keys captures their off-the-cuff recollections and intercuts them with archival clips of the Duke Ellington Orchestra (mostly from his 1968 tour of Mexico, which sometimes looks like glorified ...
Released:
2006
Rated:
NR
Length:
81 mins