Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

I wanted to but couldn't!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"'Round Midnight" the song is a jazz standard by pianist Thelonious Monk. It is thought that Monk originally composed the song sometime between 1940 and 1941. However, Harry Colomby claims that Monk may have written an early version around 1936 (at the age of 19) with the appropriate title of "Grand Finale". "'Round Midnight" is the most-recorded jazz standard composed by a jazz musician. On the website allmusic.com it is listed on over 1000 separate albums.The FILM 'Round Midnight, was inspired by the lives of real-life jazzmen Bud Powell and Lester Young, combined into the character of tenor sax player Dale Turner, played by Dexter Gordon. The character of Francis Borler, a Parisian man obsessed with Turner's music who befriends him, is based on Francis Paudras who wrote Dance of the infidels: a portrait of Bud Powell about his friendship with Powell.It is director Bertrand Tavernier's audio-visual lament for the impending death of jazz.In 'Round Midnight, real-life jazz legend Dexter Gordon brilliantly portrays Dale Turner, a musician slowly losing the battle with alcoholism, estranged from his family, and hanging on by a thread in the 1950's New York jazz world. Turner gets an offer to play in Paris, where, like many other black American musicians at the time, he enjoys a respect for his humanity that is not based upon the color of his skin. There he meets an admirer who befriends him and tries to save Turner from himself. Although for Dale the damage is already done, his poignant relationship with the man and his young daughter re-kindles his spirit and his music as the end draws near.Considered one of the world's greatest tenor saxophonists, jazz legend Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) was once quoted as saying, "Jazz to me is a living music. It's a music that since its beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, hopes, of the people." Gordon Dexter's height was 6 feet 6 inches and his nickname was Long Tall Dexter and because he was so large, so was his sound. He was known for his tendency to play behind the beat. Growing up, his doctor-father introduced him to his patients Duke Ellington & Lionel Hampton. Dexter joined Lionel Hampton's band in 1940 and then went on to play for Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Billy Eckstine and Lester Young. During the late 1950s he spent time in and out of jail and in the early 1960s recorded some landmark albums for Blue Note Records before moving to Paris for 15 years. Gordon found Europe in the 1960s a much easier place to live, saying that he experienced less racism and greater respect for jazz musicians. Upon his return to the states in the 1970's he was rediscovered and claimed a genius. Near the end of his life he turned actor and made the film ROUND MIDNIGHT that captured some of the similarities of his life story. He was Oscar nominated for the role. Gordon died of kidney failure on April 25, 1990, at age 67. He was voted musician of the year by Down Beat magazine in 1978 and 1980, and in the latter year was inducted into Down Beat's Jazz Hall of Fame.Back in 1986 I managed a small art theater in Dayton, Ohio and we played this film, ROUND MIDNIGHT. That's when I first discovered this amazing slice of life film that took me to a world I had only heard of. And this too is what film preservation is about, sharing the past of others… So sit back and enjoy this tribute to a by gone music, film and musician… in ROUND MIDNIGHT!

This is jazz-fan's delight: tons of jazz, featuring tenor saxophone with some bebop thrown in. Most of the music is nice mellow stuff and interesting to hear, even to a non-jazz buff like me.The music and interesting story made me purchase the DVD, which I have subsequently watched three or four times and always enjoyed. The story is pretty laid-back, a simple tale of an American alcoholic sax great playing in France who reforms because of a French fan who cares about him.Dexter Gordon's unique voice makes helps him become an interesting character to hear and the real-life jazz great proves to be a decent actor, too. Francois Cluzet plays the admirer who goes out of his way to help his idol. Gabrielle Haker is pleasant to watch as Cluzet's young daughter. She always seems to have a beautiful smile on her face.I don't why this film was rated "R" because there is no sex, no nudity, little profanity except for a couple of "f-words," which must be the reason for the rating. Nevertheless, it's a pretty tame movie.I found it a different and nice, gentle story.

In the Existentialist '50s, bebop jazz expanded beyond Manhattan and became all the rage in Paris. French intellectuals such as Sartre (in his pro-American hotdogs-and-bourbon phase) applied their knowledge to the music of poorly-educated African-Americans and discovered that this too, like the cinema of Jerry Lewis, was something they could like about America.Director/scenarist Bertrand Tavernier, a veteran of the St. Germain des Pres scene, crafted "Round Midnight" as a nostalgic tribute to a now-vanished European musical scene. (The Blue Note Club is a studio set, the original having been pulled down). Melding the life stories of pianist Bud Powell and sax man Lester Young into a memorable character called Dale Turner, Tavernier benefited from the fortunate casting of real-life musician Dexter Gordon to play this role.Gordon spent much of his working life in Copenhagen and in 1963 made a record with Powell in Paris. The two were part of a large group of black American jazzmen who gigged across Western Europe as the 52nd Street scene back home began to wane. Essentially, Gordon played himself, for which he deservedly received an Oscar nomination on his first try.Musicians are not necessarily actors, but "Round Midnight" is bolstered by strong performances from a number of U.S. and French jazz players paying tribute to their own. As pleasant as the film's musical score is, "Round Midnight" succeeds because the cast of music professionals shows what they can do away from the bandstand.

The one thing I remember about this film is Dexter Gordon's voice. Weary, sad, and wry. It's a voice that has played a lot of sad songs and smoked a lot of cigarettes, and it's a beautiful instrument in its own way. Gordon plays Dale Turner, an expatriate jazz musician in Paris and a recovering heroin addict. This film is the story of his time in Paris and his eventual return to New York City. This film slightly parallels Gordon's own life - he too was a former heroin addict who spent much of his career in Paris, eventually returning home to New York City. A very touching and lovely ode to the beauty of jazz music, and a film that gave Dexter Gordon a deserved career comeback late in his life. Not to be missed.