Jazz has a bad stigma with a lot of folks. Many picture high school jazz band, old people and wankers like Kenny G and scoff at this art. Well, that’s all bullshit, my friends. Jazz is full of more geniuses, lunatics and drug stigma than rock ‘n’ roll can shake a stick at. John Coltrane and Miles Davis could put Jim Morrison or Robert Plant under a table in the arm wrestling match of cool. Two great documentaries on two of jazz’s most enigmatic figures are floating around on Netflix’s meager jazz listings. These films star Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk. Mark my words, jazz will come back: the sax is the new guitar and the piano is new synth!Jazz has a bad stigma with a lot of folks. Many picture high school jazz band, old people and wankers like Kenny G and scoff at this art. Well, that’s all bullshit, my friends. Jazz is full of more geniuses, lunatics and drug stigma than rock ‘n’ roll can shake a stick at. John Coltrane and Miles Davis could put Jim Morrison or Robert Plant under a table in the arm wrestling match of cool. Two great documentaries on two of jazz’s most enigmatic figures are floating around on Netflix’s meager jazz listings. These films star Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk. Mark my words, jazz will come back: the sax is the new guitar and the piano is new synth!

Experiment Volume 8: The Jazz Age

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988)

Underground jazz might sound like a contradiction to many, but it’s a valid statement with Thelonious Monk. Perhaps the greatest eccentric in MUSIC (yep, music, not just jazz) history, “Straight, No Chaser” compiles a staggering amount of footage of this quasi-legendary pianist.

Considered by most to be a genius and rumored to be completely insane, this movie doesn’t really dispel that image. Throughout the film, the behemoth Monk staggers around muttering incoherently and wearing outlandish clothes. He seems more like a mental patient on leave, than a jazz pianist most times. However, the movie shows a man possessed when he takes the stage.

Monk bangs out off-key notes and jerky rhythms that are entirely unsettling at first. He sounds more like a child konking away at the keys, than a so-called genius. But as you watch, you learn there is a method to his madness and there is structure and melody hidden behind his obtuse style. Throughout the concerts he hollers and mumbles jibberish to himself and his band, while routinely standing up and spinning in circles for minutes at a time.

“Straight, No Chaser” is an intimate look at one of jazz’s most shadowy figures. Unlike many great documentaries, it doesn’t tear down walls and expose the artist, rather it perpetuates his reputation as a borderline psychotic genius.

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (1997)

Next to Monk, and maybe Sun Ra, jazz’s other great mystery man is Charles Mingus. Mingus played the most unflashy jazz instrument known to man: upright bass. While the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane grabbed attention by blowing out huge walls of sound with their horns, Mingus did the impossible by doing so by plucking a bass.

Nearly 25 years after his death, people are finally realizing what a brilliant composer Mingus was. The film looks at his rise and struggles as an uncompromising artist in the jazz world. His temper and genius are usually discussed hand in hand. This film shows both fairly well.

Mingus composed music that would punch you in gut with almost rock ‘n’ roll, hook-like structure. But he was doing it decades before anyone else. While other musicians played intellectually complex music few could enjoy, Mingus looked back at classical composers and combined it with current jazz to make some of the most powerful jazz numbers in history.

Equal to his status as a genius, he was an angry man. He was angry at America, the system and other musicians. He never held back and frequently scolded all three in his works. The documentary doesn’t harp on this subject much, which is a shame. Mingus’ music was angry and alienated, that’s what made it brilliant in a world of jazz too concerned about being cool, he was pissed and showed it in spades.

More NetfliXperiments:
Netflix has thousands of films to rent. I try to squeeze in as many films as I can since I pay a monthly fee. I skip the junk you can rent at Blockbuster and go straight to the sublime, irreverent and just plain weird you can’t find anywhere else. Consider me your trash man and treasure hunter as we experiment with movies we never knew existed.

· NetfliXperiments Volume 7: TV Daze
· NetfliXperiments Volume 6: Amish Paradise?
· NetfliXperiments Volume 5: Freak Out!
· NetfliXperiments Volume 4: Leprechaun Party!
· NetfliXperiments Volume 3: Rock 'n' Roll Freakshow
· NetfliXperiments Volume 2: Ouch! My Head Hurts--Foreign Films
· NetfliXperiments Volume 1: Highway Horror & Hillbilly Fishermen

Rent DVDs from Netflix - 13,000 titles - Free Shipping - No Late Fees!