Movies Similar to Ella Fitzgerald: Best of the BBC Vaults

Body and Soul: An American Bridge(2017)

A documentary about the jazz standard and it's roots in Jewish and African-American culture/

The Blues Brothers(1980)

Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

Noble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime(2018)

Combining footage unseen since WWI with original scores from the era, this film tells the story of Noble Sissle's incredible journey that spans "The Harlem Hellfighters" of World War I, Broadway Theatre, the Civil Rights movement, and decades of Black cultural development.

Jazz Icons: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Live In '58(2006)

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers features what many consider to be one of the fi nest line-ups in the history of jazz—Bobby Timmons (Piano), Jymie Merritt (Bass), Benny Golson (Sax) and the legendary trumpet player, Lee Morgan. Lost for nearly 50 years, this historic 55 minute concert, fi lmed in Belgium in 1958, one month to the day after they recorded their masterpiece Moanin,’ is the only known visual document of this infl uential band who were together for only six months.

Sweet and Lowdown(1999)

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Sting : My Songs au château de Chambord(2022)

Ella Fitzgerald Live in Australia(1960)

Ella Fitzgerald visited Australia back in 1960. Gracefully stepping up to the microphone for the celebrated television event 'The BP Super Show', hosted by musician and entertainer Horrie Dargie, Fitzgerald delivered a mellifluous set of legendary songs in an intimate concert setting at The Embers Nightclub in Toorak Road, South Yarra Victoria. This rarely seen B&W television treat is considered to be one of the earliest audio-visual recordings of the 'First Lady of Song', backed by the smooth sounds of the Lou Levy Quartet. Beside Fitzgerald's performance of 14 memorable Jazz and Blues classics, the program also contains original BP musical interludes and jingles from the Horrie Dargie Quartet.

Taking a Chance on Love: Jane Monheit in Concert(2005)

Acclaimed jazz vocalist Jane Monheit -- an artist whose voice is often compared to that of Diana Krall and Ella Fitzgerald -- delivers a heartfelt set in this memorable 2004 performance filmed live at the Brecon International Jazz Festival in Wales. The evening's mix of standards includes "In the Still of the Night," "Embraceable You," "Bill," "Too Late Now," "Honeysuckle Rose" and "I Should Care."

Miles in Paris 1989

Recorded during the 10th Paris Jazz Festival - 3rd November, 1989 at Le Zenith, Paris, France, with Kenny Garrett, Kei Akagi, Joe "Foley" McCreary, Benny Rietveld, Ricky Wellman, and John Bigham. Also includes interviews with Miles.

Rita Coolidge: On Stage at World Cafe Live(2007)

Stop for Bud(1963)

Stop for Bud is Jørgen Leth's first film and the first in his long collaboration with Ole John. […] they wanted to "blow up cinematic conventions and invent cinematic language from scratch". The jazz pianist Bud Powell moves around Copenhagen -- through King's Garden, along the quay at Kalkbrænderihavnen, across a waste dump. […] Bud is alone, accompanied only by his music. […] Image and sound are two different things -- that's Leth's and John's principle. Dexter Gordon, the narrator, tells stories about Powell's famous left hand. In an obituary for Powell, dated 3 August 1966, Leth wrote: "He quite willingly, or better still, unresistingly, mechanically, let himself be directed. The film attempts to depict his strange duality about his surroundings. His touch on the keys was like he was burning his fingers -- that's what it looked like, and that's how it sounded. But outside his playing, and often right in the middle of it, too, he was simply gone, not there."

'Round Midnight(1986)

Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.

Black February: Music Is an Open Door

Vipal Monga's first feature-length documentary chronicles an unprecedented series of concerts performed in February 2005 by the legendary jazz composer Lawrence D. Butch Morris. The concerts were in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Conduction, Butch's revolutionary technique for live music-making. Butch put on 44 performances in 28 days with 85 musicians pulled from all across New York's musical community. Along with footage from these remarkable concerts that span a full range of musical styles from big band jazz to funk to electronic and symphonic works. The documentary features some of the leading lights of the New York creative-music community, including Henry Threadgill, JD Allen, Brandon Ross, Graham Haynes, Howard Mandel, and Greg Tate. Although the film provides unique insight into New York's vibrant avant-garde music scene,

New York, New York(1977)

An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.

Cecil Taylor: All The Notes(2005)

Cecil Taylor was the grand master of free jazz piano. "All the Notes" captures in breezy fashion the unconventional stance of this media-shy modern musical genius, regarded as one of the true giants of post-war music. Seated at his beloved and battered piano in his Brooklyn brownstone the maestro holds court with frequent stentorian pronouncements on life, art and music.

Santana Live at New Orleans Jazz Festival 2014(2014)

Carlos Santana's concert at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Recorded April 26 & 27, 2014.

The Glenn Miller Story(1954)

A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.

Filthy Betrayal(2013)

On the eve of graduation, a high school student finds herself dealing with both college applications and an unfaithful boyfriend.

The Wurst Has a Master Plan(2025)

A rain parade of sausages meets camels and kings in the 32 minute experimental syncing of Pharaoh Sanders' "The Creator has a master plan"

Blues for Herold(2024)

A struggling young man secretly plays a magical trumpet that transports him from his desolate world into a colorful "bliss." When his younger brother discovers his secret, their relationship is put in jeopardy.