Earl Hines

Berlin's 1965 Jazz Piano Workshop reunited some of the instrument's finest exponents from the full stylistic spectrum of jazz piano. The great Teddy Wilson was on hand to represent the swing piano style; the father of jazz piano improvisation Earl Hines was also present; Lennie Tristano served as an exponent of modern exploratory piano playing; two of the idiom's most lyrical modern pianists, Bill Evans and John Lewis were in attendance, and a nexus between the traditional and the modern, Jaki Byard -who alternated free and stride passages on the same tune- filled out this historical lineup. A notable absence was pianist Bud Powell, who was then living a troublesome period which would end with his death the following year. The two other main influences missing from the performance were Thelonious Monk, who was touring Europe with his own band, and Art Tatum, who had died in 1956.

A 1975 documentary on the great Blues pianist Earl Hines, one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano.

Profile of Duke Ellington featuring performances and interviews with the legendary bandleader. The performance footage was recorded in a number of places from The Basin St. West Jazz Club, the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival, and his first Concert of Sacred Music at Grace Cathedral. This program was described by Ellington in his autobiography as the best film about Duke Ellington ever made...

Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own jazz club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of her murder.

Good-natured and devout, a French house painter takes the train to Rome, where he has decided to go on a pilgrimage. There he meets a scatterbrained dresser who has been assigned by a music hall star to bring her the gown she is to wear on stage. The two men get stolen by Cleo, a charming thief. Once in Rome, the painter finds himself penniless and the dresser without the gown...