A world star of African music, Baaba Maal is a glamorous, ground-breaking musician, a showman, singer, dancer and story-teller. He brings an ancient music to a global audience in a new form: a fusion of West African classical music with Western contemporary rhythms and instruments. This film travels with Maal to his home town in Senegal to discover the influences and inspirations that have shaped his music. It is alive with his powerful, haunting vocals and mesmeric rhythms.
Wynton Marsalis
Considered one of the most technically brilliant players in the history of the trumpet, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is also a master of classical music and a fine composer.
Marsalis takes the cameras with him around New York, to his home town of New Orleans, and to his rehearsal studios where he and his assembled band of musicians are seen putting together the album Blood on the Fields. He also talks about his music and his way of working. Shot in both colour and black and white.
Miriam Makeba
This exclusive profile of singer Miriam Makeba, whose music and story are a powerful and moving testimony to South Africa’s struggle for freedom, was filmed on location in her homeland. Miriam and her band are featured in specially-recorded performances and she talks in interview about her early life in South Africa and the time she spent in exile in America, where she was involved with the civil rights movement. Archive newsreel and feature film footage are vivid reminders of her country’s troubled past.
The Glory of Gershwin
The best-selling Glory of Gershwin album, master-minded by the great harmonica player Larry Adler and produced by the legendary George Martin, brought together a host of stars to perform Gershwin songs of their choice, among them Elton John, Robert Palmer, Oleta Adams, Lisa Stansfield and Sinead O’Connor. This programme sits in on the recording sessions and canvasses the artists’ thoughts on why Gershwin’s music has such unique and lasting appeal.
George Shearing
George Shearing, blind since birth, is one of the world’s greatest living jazz pianists. Filmed on both sides of the Atlantic, this tribute to Shearing showcases the music which took the jazz world by storm. Specially-shot performances and archive clips feature music spanning the six decades of his remarkable career and classics such as September in the Rain, Lullaby of Birdland, Greensleeves, Donna Lee and Freedom Jazz Dance are included, as well as many other recent compositions.
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker has been described as the owner of the sexiest voice in music. He has released more records than any other blues artist and, along with B. B. King, he is probably the best known. This programme visits Hooker at his San Francisco home, sits in on a recording session and follows him to a local nightclub. It also travels to Clarksdale, Mississippi, in search of his roots and to Detroit, where Hooker first made his name in 1948 with the million-selling record Boogie Chillen.
The Pet Shop Boys
This programme looks at the Pet Shop Boys phenomenon, with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe revealing the inspiration behind their distinctive brand of pop music. Video clips and film of their spectacular stage shows capture the Pet Shop Boys in action, singing hits such as It’s a Sin, Domino Dancing and Where the Streets Have No Name. Liza Minnelli, with whom they have worked, is a contributor.
Barbara Dickson
After many years as a folk singer, Barbara Dickson went on to become one of Britain’s most popular recording and concert artistes. This film shows off the diversity of her vocal talent and she is seen tackling a classical aria for the first time – Gluck’s Che faro senza Euridice from Orfeo ed Euridice.
Hal Prince
Hal Prince has been intimately involved with the history of the American musical since the 1950s, responsible for producing the original stagings of hit shows such as West Side Story, and directing successes including Cabaret, Evita and Sweeney Todd. In this television lecture, he gives a fascinating insight into the past, present and future of this form of entertainment.
Lester Young
This portrait of the legendary saxophonist, known as ‘the Prez’, centres on a jazz opera inspired by his life. Interwoven with film of this ambitious work in rehearsal and performance are contributions from people who knew him – fellow Basieite Buddy Tate, master of ‘macvouty’, Slim Gaillard, the arranger and composer Gil Evans. Rare archive film of Lester Young reveals a shy, withdrawn man behind the musical giant.