Philadelphia avant-jazz legend Byard Lancaster will team with Slife Productions to produce a feature-length documentary on Philadelphia jazz. Viewers will be able to submit comments during the creative process on the documentary’s website, phillyjazz.blip.tv, helping to shape the final cut of the movie.
Video clips will be posted bi-weekly for public consumption-the first clip is up now on the “godparents of Philadelphia Jazz,” Trudy Pitts and Bill “Mr. C” Carney.
The filmmakers will use musician interviews and footage from rehearsals, sessions and live performances to chronicle jazz in the City of Brotherly Love.
A press release from Slife Productions named the following participants in the project: “Odean Pope, Orrin Evans, Calvin Weston, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, allaboutjazz.com founder Michael Ricci and many more to be confirmed, including Christian McBride, the Eubanks brothers, Jimmy Bruno and Michael Hampton.”
Lancaster, who attended Settlement Music School and Berklee, lives in Philadelphia where he teaches music and continues to perform. In his 50-year-plus music career, he has played with Dave Burrell, Lee Morgan, Elvin Jones and Archie Shepp, and taught Stanley Clarke, Kevin Eubanks and Marzette Watts.
Jason Fifield, owner of Slife Productions and an anthropologist, videographer, musician and recording engineer as well, is currently seeking sponsors for the project.
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