TFF2014 Day 4: Teacher and Pupil 'Keep on Keepin' On'

Justin Kauflin and Clark Terry at the piano in "Keep on Keepin' On. "Photo from "Keep on Keepin' On."

“KEEP on Keepin' On” is both a labor of love and testament to the fact that if you believe you can achieve.

The documentary from Alan Hicks follows over a four-year-period the teacher-student relationship between jazz master Clark Terry and blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin. It makes its world premiere today at the 13th Annual Tribeca Film Festival.

“Keep on Keepin' On" is a love letter, master class and ode to current and future greatness all rolled into one. AH, a former student and band member of CT's, has confessed to knowing nothing about filmmaking when he decided to capture the special relationship between an old lion and a young club. Well done.

Other films/events on today's TFF2014 schedule: “5 to 7,” “Gabriel,” “Life Partners,” “Super Duper Alice Cooper,” “Point and Shoot,” “Regarding Susan Sontag” and “Ballet 422” (see video at right).

Visit http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival to learn more about it and the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, including tickets and schedule.

'Bad 25' Is About the Man and His Music, not the Madness

SPIKE Lee had a mandate from both the Michael Jackson Estate and Sony Music Entertainment: focus on the music and the art.

He followed through, and the result is “Bad 25,” the documentary that celebrates the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's iconic “Bad” album. It recounts the making of the album one track at a time.

The film makes its U.S. debut today in New York only for a weeklong run at the Loews AMC Theater (66 Third Ave). It will make its TV debut at 9:30 p.m. EST on 22 Nov. on ABC.

While “Bad 25” does not focus on the personal problems and peccadilloes of the King of Pop, his eccentricity comes through. For it is impossible to be that talented and not have a few oddball habits, and MJ – God love ’im – had his share. In his defense, however, he was at the time of the "Bad" recording trying to top (or come close) “Thriller,” which is still the biggest selling album of all time. Imagine the pressure!

“Bad 25” had its world premiere at the 69th Venice Film Festival on 31 Aug., exactly 25 years after the release of the “Bad” album and two days after the anniversary of MJ’s birthday. The film, which had its North American premiere at the 37th Toronto Film Festival, reveals a number of details that fans will savor. (See video above of SL at a press conference after the Venice screening of “Bad 25” and a video clip from the documentary below)

Without a doubt, SL is an MJ fan, and he doesn’t pretend otherwise. In fact, he admits it. Only one year older, he wanted to be MJ and the Jackson Five. His adulation, notwithstanding, doesn’t mean his film is revisionist propaganda. It is not, though at moments it feels a bit too adulatory. As SL says during the Venice press conference, “I think there were too many years, we – and I’m gonna include myself – we concentrated on stuff about Michael Jackson that had nothing to do with the music. This is a time to just concentrate on the music of Michael Jackson. It was a chance to dig into his creative process.”

The director also speaks with many who were influenced by MJ, as well as collaborators, including Quincy Jones and Martin Scorsese, who directed the “Bad” video.

Put the focus on the artistry – which even MJ’s most ardent detractors can’t deny – and the result can easily be “Bad 25.” To help tell the “Bad” story, SL uses never-before-seen footage – a huge benefit of having the cooperation of both the estate and the record company.

“We all are blessed with the final work but it is rare that you get to see how something is put together,” SL shared with his audience in Venice. “We don't see the blood, sweat and tears – all of the work that goes into how the masters work.”

Now, we do.

“Bad 25” will be showing from 26 Oct. through 2 Nov. at the Chinese 6 Theaters (6801 Hollywood Blvd.) in Hollywood.

Quincy Jones Finally Gets Montblanc Patronage Award

ONE apt question is why he didn’t receive this award when it was established in 1992, for he more than qualified. Well, better late than never.

At last, Quincy Jones is a U.S. recipient of the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award(http://www.bit.ly/R6B1b0). It is awarded annually to 12 individuals around the world who have demonstrated a massive contribution to the arts in the form of time, energy and financial resources.

In addition to the award, QJ received a Montblanc ‘Patron of Art’ Limited Edition Writing Instrument and $20KUSD for the charity of his choice. QJ chose New York City’s Jazz Foundation of America, which is having its star-studded 21 Annual Jazz Loft Party fundraiser later in the month. (http://www.jazzfoundation.org).

Quincy Jones and Lang Lang on the red carpet outside of Chateau Marmont. Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images.

Each honoree receives his due reward at a swanky ceremony in his or her home country. For QJ, it was Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont. Among those celebrating on Tuesday with the legendary composer and musical genius were Morgan Freeman, Montblanc cultural ambassador Lang Lang, Terri Hatcher and the recipient’s daughter, Rashida. (See video above of QJ talking about importance of award.)

Past recipients of the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award: HRH Charles Prince of Wales, Young-Ho Kim, Judith Jamison, Wynton Marsalis, Queen Sofia of Spain and Susan Sarandon.

Tonight’s the Night for ‘Big Maybelle: Soul of The Blues’

THE scuttlebutt is that Lillias White blew the roof off the mother in previews of “Big Maybelle: Soul of The Blues.”

Pray tell, what is to happen this very evening when the Tony winner (“The Life”) steps up to the mic as Maybelle Smith at the musical's opening night gala? Are workmen at this very moment battening down the hatches at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre, the site of this potentially momentous occasion? The show runs through 2 Sept. and there is talk about a New York City debut in the winter.

“Big Maybelle” chronicles the hard life and good music of the R&B singer-pianist born in Jackson, Tennessee as Mabel Louise Smith. She enjoyed too-brief success – dying in a diabetic coma in 1972 – during the ’50s and ‘60s. MS was given the nickname Big Maybelle in part because she was stout, as they said back then.

Lillias White belts them out as Big Maybelle in “Big Maybelle: Soul of The Blues.” Photo by Jerry Lamonica.

Written and directed by Paul Levine, “Big Maybelle” features 31 blues songs from the last five decades, including “Candy” (1956), one of MS's biggest hits. The song received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. Also on the "Big Maybelle" playlist are songs from “The Okeh Sessions,” which the Blues Hall of Fame (2011) singer recorded between 1952 and 1955. The “Sessions” album won the 1983 W. C. Handy Award for Vintage or Reissue Album of the Year. (See video of MS singing “I Ain’t Mad at You" above; click on link to hear MS singing “Candy, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKNIbNADr-o&feature=related)

A bit of trivia: In 1955, MS recorded "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On," two years before Jerry Lee Lewis' career-making cover of the song. MS’s version was produced by a fellow named Quincy Jones. Few people outside of QJ and say, Aretha Franklin, are aware that MS is known as “America’s Queen Mother of Soul.”

It seems that LW is doing the Queen Mother proud.

Visit http://www.baystreet.org/ to learn more about “BIG MAYBELLE: Soul of the Blues.”

TFF: History Is Alive in 'Sing Your Song'

Harry Belafonte in Africa. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.

IT was in part the death of Harry Belafonte’s friend and acting workshop classmate, Marlon Brando, that inspired him toward “Sing Your Song.” The documentary was shown at the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival Friday night.

“I wanted to talk to these guys who were left while they could still talk,” HB, 84, said of his various colleagues. He made this revelation to journalist Tavis Smiley during a “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie” interview.

Among those contemporaries is Quincy Jones, 78, who received special recognition Thursday at a Tribeca Film Institute Legacy Celebration. Another is Sidney Poitier, 84 and eight days older than HB, the latter pointed out, who will be honored for his life’s work Monday with the 38th Annual Chaplin Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

“Sing Your Song,” a video biography directed by Susanne Rostock and produced by HB's daughter Gina Belafonte, will have a wide release on HBO in the fall. It is a delectable piece of American history and Civil Rights history.

The young and drop-dead gorgeous HB was on the path to super stardom until an encounter with a Southern police chief hastened his transformation into an artist-activist. Soon enough, the activism would dwarf the art (singer, actor, producer), for his conscience would not allow otherwise. A guiding spirit, too, was a directive given him as a boy by his mother: awake each day with a plan in mind to do something about injustice.

Not only is HB handsome, he is humble. It is owing to this humility that the real, true extent of his accomplishments – his role in the Civil Rights Movement, for instance, is known to very few. Of course, he was a point man for Dr. Martin Luther King, but HB helped disciple then-Attorney General Bobby Kennedy to the cause. Once he journeyed – with SP in tow – to deliver funds to SNCC (Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee) members in Mississippi. It was a risky mission; the wolves eventually appeared at the door but were met with resistance.

A poster from "Sing Your Song." Image from "Sing Your Song" Facebook page.

A question TB put to HB about SP still rankles. Essentially, the talk show host wondered whether HB harbored any resentment toward his friend, whose career went further, presumably because it was not interfered with by a pursuit of justice. The subtext was that SP, too, should have been on the frontline. Woolgathering before speaking, HB said, “In a vineyard, there are many varieties of grapes,” stressing that SP always answered his call. Further, he gave TS to know, that had he concentrated more on his career there are many people whom he would not have met; his life would not be as rich as it is. He would have had far “less fun.”

Many of the Hollywood stars – particularly nonblack ones – participated in the March on Washington at HB’s behest. The likes of Paul Newman, M.Brando (of course), Charlton Heston, Walter Matthau and others. In attendance at a concert before the march were the likes of Tony Bennett and Peter Paul and Mary.

HB’s activism also extended to Africa. Interestingly, it was Eleanor Roosevelt who helped him understand and appreciate the continent’s true place in and importance to human history. Fairly common knowledge is his involvement in the fight against South African apartheid and to free Nelson Mandela.

Not so commonly known is his work in the 60s to help Kenya. He was, for example, instrumental in arranging for a group of young Kenyans to be educated in the United States who were to return to their country to help build it after colonial rule. One of those students was Barack Obama Sr.

The names most closely associated with the “We Are the World” initiative are Michael Jackson and QJ. It was HB, however, who took the idea to QJ and who helped arrange the attendance of the staggering amount of A-list talent in that studio on that fateful day. Once again, he was content to be in the background.

Though “Sing Your Song” is about HB’s contribution to making the world a better place through art and activism, it never comes across as self-congratulatory. Quite the contrary, it is revelatory. How many people know that HB was the first recording artist to have a platinum album (“Calypso”)? Or the first black person to win an Emmy (“Tonight with Belafonte”)?

Harry Belafonte today and a younger version of himself at the start of his career. Photo from Getty Images.

Doubtless, HB has worked harder than most for the cause of justice and peace. How is it then, TS, asked that he is not bitter in this age of assaults on the causes – particularly unions and civil rights – for which he fought so stridently. HB’s response, not surprisingly, was nuanced.

“I really have no time to waste, and bitterness takes away too much valuable energy that can go to fixing problems.” Anger, though, is quite another matter. “Anger,“ HB said, “is good because it helps you find solutions to these problems.”

“Sing Your Song” only loses traction when HB alludes to his three marriages (that latest was to Pamela Frank in 2008). The introduction of these three women, two the mother of HB’s four children, is clumsy and clunky. In one breath, HB is discussing events of the day and in the next he discloses that he has married or divorced.

Thankfully, these events take up very little time in an otherwise stirring, engaging film.

Visit http://http://www.tribecafilm.com/ to learn more about the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival.