Alvin Queen

Alvin Queen is one of the best jazz drummers of all time.  A child prodigy, he played with the greatest masters (Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Pharaoh Sanders... )  He is also a very nice person who has a lot of wisdom to transmit.  He shows it beautifully in this first episode of "Seeds of Success".

Tenor saxophonist, composer and producer Kamasi Washington and his band perform a special show at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater for the theatre's 85th year anniversary. Washington explores Harlem's rich musical and cultural history and the city's influence on his generation of artists.

Denver’s iconic and Grammy Award-winning musicians reveal the secrets of their success and longevity in the music business while warning the young lions to whom they pass the torch to stay relevant in a marketplace both treacherous and brutal.  The majestic Rocky Mountains tower over a bustling metropolis filled with steamy and romantic nightclubs where jazz flourishes on stage. JazzTown features never seen before live concert footage on historic stages that have now crumbled due to economic stresses of the Covid Pandemic.  ~ Dianne Reeves, 5-time Grammy Award winner for Best Jazz Vocalist  ~ US Senator John Hickenlooper (former jazz club owner)  ~ Ron Miles (Colorado Music Hall of Fame, Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Ginger Baker)  ~ Charlie Hunter (Snarky Puppy, Christian McBride, Stanton Moore)  ~ Art Lande (Mark Isham, Gary Peacock)  ~ Ayo Awosika (Session Singer on Soundtracks to: Wakanda Forever, Nope, Dune, The Lion King ... tours with Miley Cyrus,)  and many more.

Young Benny Goodman is taught clarinet by a music professor. He is advised to play whichever kind of music he likes best, but to make a living, Benny begins by joining the Ben Pollack traveling band.

In this beginner-level doumbek course, Amir Naoum teaches Southwest Asian drum rhythms and doumbek techniques to drummers and dancers.

Using a player's-eye-view camera, Paulo Mattioli teaches hand-drummers djembe techniques, tones, and notation. Players are also introduced to the Guinean rhythms of kassagbe (a celebratory rhythm from the coast) and kassa (a family of rhythms for the grain harvest).

Using a player's-eye-view camera, Paulo Mattioli teaches hand-drummers djembe techniques, tones, and notation. Players are introduced to two Guinean rhythms: tiriba (a rhythm of welcome) and mindiani (a rhythm for the dance of the virgins).

The story of how Everett Leroy Jones became Amiri Baraka, from his childhood to the mid '60s, is told through interviews recorded in the late '90s.

A young student filmmaker in an attempt to shoot a documentary gets lost in New Orleans. Out of fear of making a mistake, he ends up making hundreds of mistakes.