Quincy (2018)

This intimately presented biographical documentary is a talented daughter's love letter to her extraordinary father. Rashida Jones's amateur camerawork is full of love. She interviews her dad on camera asking questions the way only a family member could. Quincy Jones is naturally comfortable just chatting among family.  The movie jumps back and forth between two time lines, both marching to the present with tons of old photographs and home video, some really incredible footage from the 1930s/40s. I really like how Quincy soothingly narrates much of his own life story and there are audio clips and cameos of plenty other famous people who have worked with Quincy. It's a really touching movie with a great soundtrack and a fascinating subject.

Keep On Keepin' On (2014)

This was one of the most enjoyable documentaries I have seen. It made me smile a lot.  This film is about two jazz musicians: the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry, and a prodigious blind pianist Justin Kauflin.  But more than that, this film is about their mentor-mentee relationship. Though born 66 years apart, the two of them bond over a love of jazz, Terry's desire to impart his knowledge upon a protege,  and Terry's failing eyesight in his old age.  The filmmaker gets intimate footage inside the Arkansas home of Terry, filming late-night practice sessions.  Terry teaches Kauflin old riffs and melodies by singing them to him as he lays in bed, and Kauflin plays them back perfectly on his keyboard with his guide dog at his side.  It is a touching story of an unlikely friendship with great music.  

Fantasia (1940) & Fantasia 2000 (1999)

Walt Disney's experimental classic still plays well 75 years after its premiere and is better than Roy Disney's follow up in 2000.  It is a novel idea to compile a series of unrelated short films into one much-needed introduction to classical music, excellent for young children and adults alike.  The only things connecting short films are the orchestra and the animation. Fantasia 2000 tried to update the look with computer animation,  such as the strange looking whales in Respighi's Pines of Rome.  But not veering too far from the original,  2000 brings back Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice,  perhaps the most iconic sequence from the original and perhaps from the entire Disney canon.   The movie reinforces the idea that good storytelling does not require words or even actors.   It displays the power of music to convey a story and showcases some of the greatest pieces humanity has produced. My personal favorites are Stravinsky's Firebird and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, both from the 2000 version.  I greatly appreciate the look of hand drawn animation.  Both show complete storytelling, even with complex intertwining stories in a Depression era New York, really embodying Gershwin.  There are some weaker shorts, in which the animation is made up mostly of dancing lines and shapes, which compared to the other shorts comes off as a little lazy.