Jazz aficionados rejoice – early 2004 has thus far seen the release of a cornucopia of top-notch home DVD releases in the genre of jazz. Perhaps we are seeing a bit of catch-up, as the rock and pop titles received priority in the past couple of years as the record companies first tackled their best-selling material for remaster and deluxe DVD treatment.

Yet 2004 is shaping up to be jazz’s turn at the plate, with both the major recording studios and independent producers plumbing the vaults for classic jazz and new artists and recordings alike. Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Sun Ra and many others are but a few of the artists to grace your home theater system early this year, from studios as diverse as Music Video Distributors, Storyville/Navarre, and Wellspring.

Source the early arrivals now, as there is sure to be much more great jazz on the table as the year gets hotter!

The Cry Of Jazz: Featuring Sun Ra & His Arkestra

Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz." A landmark moment in black film, foreseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Featured are ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black & white. Rarely seen in cinemas, this is the first commercial release of The Cry of Jazz.