10 great jazz films

The American trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker (1929 - 1988) is a jazz legend. Baker was one of the few white musicians to find a place among jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. The Canadian filmmaker Robert Budreau focused on the last years of Baker's life in his film "Born to Be Blue," starring Ethan Hawke.

Among the different films about the world's greatest jazz musicians, there are also several remarkable documentaries. "Let's Get Lost" (1988) is an exceptional one. It covers several decades of Chet Baker's career. The film was nominated for an Oscar.

This film did win an Oscar, in 1955. Directed by Anthony Mann, "The Glenn Miller Story" stars James Stewart as the big band leader and trombonist Glenn Miller. The film tells a melodramatic love story, but music naturally plays a leading role in it. It is also a great Technicolor movie.

Woody Allen, who's also an avid clarinet player, demonstrated with this 1999 film that a jazz film can be captivating without being based on real-life musicians. "Sweet and Lowdown" tells the story of a gifted swing and jazz guitarist (Sean Penn) in the 1920s. The comedy also humorously integrates documentary-style interviews with critics and biographers of the fictional musician.

Francis Ford Coppola likewise looked back at the 1920s jazz scene in his film "The Cotton Club" (1984), which was also the name of a famous New York City night club from 1923 to 1935. Combining music and a gangster story, the film starred among others Richard Gere and Diane Lane (picture). The film was nominated for several awards, but flopped at the box office.

A decade later, Robert Altman directed a film with a similar concept as that of his colleague Coppola. "Kansas City" also tells a gangster story set in a jazz scene hot spot - this time in Kansas City in 1934. Harry Belafonte and Jennifer Jason Leigh (picture) were among the movie's stars.

One of the best films about jazz ever made is by French director Bertrand Tavernier. "Round Midnight" (1986) is set in Paris in the 1950s and tells the story of an alcoholic saxophone player. The director (right) wanted authentic music in the film, and it features several musicians, among them Dexter Gordon (left) in the lead role.

Clint Eastwood paid tribute to the legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker in his 1988 biopic, "Bird." Forest Whitaker's performance in the lead role was brilliant, earning him the best actor award in Cannes. The movie features atmospheric sequences covering Parker's life between music and drugs, up until his early death at the age of 34.

Director Spike Lee is also a great jazz fan. His musical drama "Mo' Better Blues" (1990) is set in Brooklyn in 1969 and portrays the career of the fictional trumpeter Bleek Gilliam, played by Denzel Washington (left), pictured here with the filmmaker, who also starred in the film.

And finally, this year's great winner at the Oscars is a film about jazz - even though "La La Land" most famously borrows from Hollywood's musical genre. The story of Sebastian Wilder, the struggling jazz pianist depicted by Ryan Gosling, is also a tribute to the history of jazz and its commercialization over the last decades.