Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past
Bandleader, historian, and collector Vince Giordano has devoted his life to music that was created before he was born: the early jazz of the 1920s and 1930s. His 11-piece band The Nighthawks is known…
Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past
Bandleader, historian, and collector Vince Giordano has devoted his life to music that was created before he was born: the early jazz of the 1920s and 1930s. His 11-piece band The Nighthawks is known as the hottest band in New York, if not the world; and Vince is Hollywood's go-to source for authentic period soundtracks (Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator", Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown") with his monumental collection of vintage musical instruments and 60,000 arrangements. But between the moments of glory (The Newport Jazz Festival; a Grammy for the soundtrack to "Boardwalk Empire") is the constant struggle to find work, manage personnel, and schlep a van full of band equipment and 400 lbs of music to every gig, with no road crew. Vince, and a handful of others, have managed to keep this joyful, energetic music alive long enough for a new generation of young hipsters to discover it. And unlike when Vince as a young musician, they don't have to experience it on scratchy 78 rpm records; because they have seen it performed live by The Nighthawks, just as it was performed by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman, or Bix Beiderbecke - with all the skill, passion, and virtuosity of the originals, but without the scratches. Vince Giordano is one-of-a-kind: gifted, dogged, single-minded, and like all geniuses, a little bit crazy.
Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past
Biography,Documentary,History
Film Details
Bandleader, historian, and collector Vince Giordano has devoted his life to music that was created before he was born: the early jazz of the 1920s and 1930s. His 11-piece band The Nighthawks is known as the hottest band in New York, if not the world; and Vince is Hollywood's go-to source for authentic period soundtracks (Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator", Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown") with his monumental collection of vintage musical instruments and 60,000 arrangements. But between the moments of glory (The Newport Jazz Festival; a Grammy for the soundtrack to "Boardwalk Empire") is the constant struggle to find work, manage personnel, and schlep a van full of band equipment and 400 lbs of music to every gig, with no road crew.
Vince, and a handful of others, have managed to keep this joyful, energetic music alive long enough for a new generation of young hipsters to discover it. And unlike when Vince as a young musician, they don't have to experience it on scratchy 78 rpm records; because they have seen it performed live by The Nighthawks, just as it was performed by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman, or Bix Beiderbecke - with all the skill, passion, and virtuosity of the originals, but without the scratches. Vince Giordano is one-of-a-kind: gifted, dogged, single-minded, and like all geniuses, a little bit crazy..