A loving homage to jazz musicians and their world from French director Bertrand Tavernier. The story of an ageing and burned-out American jazz musician and a passionate French admirer is very loosely based on the real-life relationship between Bud Powell and Francis Paudras in the Paris of the late 1950s. Paris of that era was a haven for many jazz musicians because the interest in jazz didn't fade in France as it did in America. Tavernier cast a real jazz musician - tenor sax great Dexter Gordon - rather than an actor in the central role and Gordon fills the part well, perhaps giving it an authenticity an actor would have struggled to achieve. In fact all the well-known names in this film are musicians. Jazz fans will have a good time listening to the music (of which there is plenty) and spotting Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter, to name but a few. All the music was recording live while filming, not dubbed over afterwards, as is usual. It must have been a nightmare for the sound engineers, but did create the club sound and atmosphere Tavernier was aiming for.


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