Movies: Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald was a 15-year-old street kid when she won a talent contest in 1934 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Within months she was a star. Over the next six decades, her sublime voice would transform the tragedies of her own life and the troub...

Bing Crosby was, without a doubt, the most popular and influential multi-media star of the first half of the twentieth century, pulling audiences in with his intimate, laid-back voice and innate charm. Narrated by Stanley Tucci and directed by Robert...

The two musical masters swing out....

In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection....

Two peanut vendors at a rodeo show get in trouble with their boss and hide out on a railroad train heading west. They get jobs as cowboys on a dude ranch, despite the fact that neither of them knows anything about cowboys, horses, or anything else....

In the 1950s, a small group of artists monopolized the attention of the cameras and the public. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford together form the "rat pack": they sing the most popular hits of the moment, st...

The history of New York City's Apollo Theater in Harlem is given the full treatment....

Nick Romano lives in a poor tenement building on the south side of Chicago with his well-meaning but drug-addicted mother, Nellie. She encourages him to pursue his piano-playing talent in hopes that it will bring him a better life. Nellie's neighbors...

Ella and Louis found Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet. The studio album came out when both figures were at high points in their careers commercially. The recording sessions getting started in August 1956, ...

Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim is a 1967 television special starring Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, accompanied by Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. A truly memorable television event, the third annual special finds Frank ...

Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he can't stay away from the music of the streets and workers. After he writes a theme song for a local...

Enjoy the smooth voice and cool rhythms of legendary American recording artist Nat "King" Cole with this music set, which includes popular hits like "Mona Lisa," "Save the Bones for Henry Jones," "Shine On Harvest Moon," "Sweet Lorraine" and more. Th...

Celebrating Sammy Davis Jr 's 60th anniversary in show business, including musical,comic and dancing performers....

This riveting music documentary traces the history of Jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson, from his early days as Montreal's teenage Boogie-Woogie sensation through his meteoric rise to international celebrity with Norman Granz and the ground-breaking J...

The life and career of one of America's leading cultural figures, told through video clips and rare photos....

Documentary about the star-studded pre-inaugural gala that took place on January 19, 1961 to celebrate John F. Kennedy's election....

Documentary about Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska....

A star-studded tribute (from the creators of That's Entertainment) to the contributions of Afro-Americans in film over the last century. Vanessa Williams traces the struggles and triumphs of the superstars of music and film. Among the many artists fe...

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Half a century ago, Brazilian composer and musician Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim (1927-1994) introduced bossa nova to a worldwide audience with "The Girl from Ipanema." This relaxed, cool, sensuous music blended jazz and samba. After recording an album...