Miles Davis Movie
A biopic of jazz legend Miles Davis looks set to go into production after it was announced that director George Tillman Jr has signed up to the project. Currently titled Miles Davis, the film will draw on the book Dark Magus: The Jekyll and Hyde Life of Miles Davis by Davis’s eldest son, Gregory Davis, and will be able to use Davis’s music in its score. The Guardian

LOUIS: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin and the birth of jazz
LOUIS, a silent film (2010) – trailer – YouTube
A brand new silent film, with live music written by Wynton Marsalis, receives its European premiere at the London Jazz Festival – “a one-in-a-lifetime not-be-missed event (Jazz Times). The streets of New Orleans provide an evocative backdrop as a young Louis Armstrong navigates the colourful intricacies of life in the quintessential jazz city.
Marsalis’s score is played by a hand-picked ensemble of some of the composers closest associates, directed by trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, including saxophonist Wes Anderson, and drummer Herlin Riley, contributing a spirited counterpoint to director Dan Pritzker’s stunning Chaplin-inspired movie.

Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense (2010)
IMDB
Jazz is undergoing changes of monumental magnitude and importance. Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense is a documentary film that captures the metamorphosis of jazz by showcasing the words, music, and spirit of the artists that are paving the way for an unprecedented musical revolution. Through interviews and live performance footage, we explore the thoughts and lives of the musicians spearheading today s jazz front lines. Directed by Michael Rivoira, Lars Larson and Peter J. Vogt, Icons Among Us examines the jazz music scene today by focusing the spotlight on many current jazz icons including Terence Blanchard, Ravi Coltrane, Robert Glasper, Nicholas Payton, Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Donald Harrison Jr., Anat Cohen, Esperanza Spalding, and Medeski Martin and Wood. The film also features the legendary predecessors and influences of today s contemporary jazz stars, including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Wynton Marsalis.
Reviews
The movie (Icons Among Us) has been hailed as the most significant jazz documentary in recent decades for the very reason that, rather than focusing on the music s storied past (in the spirit of Ken Burns), it takes an at-times contentious look at jazz today and ponders its future. —Brian McCoy, Oakland Examiner
Icons includes much well-filmed footage of musicians performing and rehearsing in clubs and studios.These purely musical sequences are the major attraction of the program: they indicate what current jazz musicians are actually up to. —Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
The radical contribution of Icons Among Us is that it declares jazz to be not only a vital music, but also a cutting edge way of thinking. —Eric Benson, All About Jazz