Play Your Own Thing - Eine Geschichte des Jazz in Europa
Germany 2006

Opening 2 Nov 2006

Directed by: Julian Benedikt
Writing credits: Julian Benedikt

A lot of English is spoken in this German documentary from multitalented director/actor/saxophonist/painter Julian Benedikt. Alongside listening, it is fascinating to watch the concentration of a jazz artist making his/her music. We see musician after musician performing 30 to 40 years ago and again today. While interesting, this repetitive “then and now” approach is not enough to carry the film. Compare this to Benedikt’s 1996 award -winning film Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz, about the two Jewish Berliners, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, who after emigrating to New York in 1938 formed the famed record label in the same year! Play.. is more a history of jazz, treating this music as the Ken Burns’ films treat it. as something from the past. What about the scene today? Hardly a mention of the new young, thriving European jazz scene. (You can sample jazz yourself when a mix of Americans and Europeans play in Nancy’s Galerie on the Planten un Blomen side of the Dammtor Bahnhof every Friday from 22:00-1:00.) (Nancy Tilitz)