Round Midnight Jazz Scene
Round Midnight
The movie Round Midnight, directed by Betrand Tavernier, is a very well reflected portrayal of the jazz scene, as it was known in the late fifties. The main character and protagonist of the movie, Dale Turner who is played by Dexter Gordon, leaves New York to go to Paris. Dale leads the audience through the ups and downs of being a working jazz musician. The struggles of business, the 24-hour love for the music, the constant late hours of the night, the run-down residencies jazz musicians are sometimes forced to live in, and especially the fight against drugs. All theses details help the audience realize what the scene was like back then, however, the jazz scene as musicians know it today is completely different from how it …show more content…
Racism has effect jazz ever since it evolved from the evil within people. This is one of the reasons that this movie is not accurate to present day jazz life. Even though there is still an underlying tension between people of different race today, this tension does not come close to what racism was back in the fifties. It was ten times harder for black musicians to prosper back then only because of their color. White people did not want to see black people playing white people. If they did it would infuriate them and they would not want to listen to the music. Early in the film Dale describes how when he was in the army he had a picture of his wife who was white. And a fellow officer, who couldn't expect that this black man had a prettier white wife then he did, said a comment to Dale in which Dale responded by punching him in the face. Back then this was obviously unacceptable behavior. Dale paid the price and was beaten by many black officers. Almost any black jazz musician who lived through the period of time where racism was at an extreme will probably have some sort of story like this to be told. And many left the U.S to go to Europe where they knew they would not be judged by their color, but their music. Today, we have come a long way to fight the problem of racism and are getting closer to completely eliminating it. Jazz musicians today are never faced with the kinds of problems are mentors did, making this film only accurate for its
The movie Round Midnight, directed by Betrand Tavernier, is a very well reflected portrayal of the jazz scene, as it was known in the late fifties. The main character and protagonist of the movie, Dale Turner who is played by Dexter Gordon, leaves New York to go to Paris. Dale leads the audience through the ups and downs of being a working jazz musician. The struggles of business, the 24-hour love for the music, the constant late hours of the night, the run-down residencies jazz musicians are sometimes forced to live in, and especially the fight against drugs. All theses details help the audience realize what the scene was like back then, however, the jazz scene as musicians know it today is completely different from how it …show more content…
Racism has effect jazz ever since it evolved from the evil within people. This is one of the reasons that this movie is not accurate to present day jazz life. Even though there is still an underlying tension between people of different race today, this tension does not come close to what racism was back in the fifties. It was ten times harder for black musicians to prosper back then only because of their color. White people did not want to see black people playing white people. If they did it would infuriate them and they would not want to listen to the music. Early in the film Dale describes how when he was in the army he had a picture of his wife who was white. And a fellow officer, who couldn't expect that this black man had a prettier white wife then he did, said a comment to Dale in which Dale responded by punching him in the face. Back then this was obviously unacceptable behavior. Dale paid the price and was beaten by many black officers. Almost any black jazz musician who lived through the period of time where racism was at an extreme will probably have some sort of story like this to be told. And many left the U.S to go to Europe where they knew they would not be judged by their color, but their music. Today, we have come a long way to fight the problem of racism and are getting closer to completely eliminating it. Jazz musicians today are never faced with the kinds of problems are mentors did, making this film only accurate for its