“Louis” a silent film homage to jazz great Louis Armstrong, premieres Aug. 31 at the Keswick Theatre
Louis, a silent film directed by Dan Pritzker and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Shanti Lowry and Anthony Coleman, will premiere in five U.S. cities in late August, featuring a live score performed by Wynton Marsalis, renowned pianist Cecile Licad and a 10-piece all-star jazz ensemble, including Sherman Irby, Victor Goines, Marcus Printup, Ted Nash, Kurt Bacher, Vincent Gardner, Wycliffe Gordon, Dan Nimmer, Carlos Henriquez, Ali Jackson, and conductor Andy Farber. The score is primarily comprised of Marsalis' compositions. Licad will play the music of 19th century American composer L.M. Gottschalk.
On Tuesday, August 31 at 8PM, the group will perform live music for Louis in the Philadelphia area at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pa. This performance will conclude the five-city tour which kicks off in Chicago, on August 25, then travels to Detroit, on August 26, Bethesda, MD (Washington DC) on August 28 and then New York on August 30. Partial proceeds from the five concerts will benefit Providence Saint Mel School in Chicago, IL in honor of Paul J. Adams III.
Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, LOUIS is an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and magic for 6-year-old Louis (Anthony Coleman) as he navigates the colorful intricacies of life in the city. Young Louis's dreams of playing the trumpet are interrupted by a chance meeting with a beautiful and vulnerable girl named Grace (Lowry) and her baby, Jasmine. Haley, in a performance reminiscent of the great comic stars of the silent screen, plays the evil Judge Perry who is determined not to let Jasmine's true heritage derail his candidacy for governor.
"The idea of accompanying a silent film telling a mythical tale of a young Louis Armstrong was appealing to me," says Marsalis. "Of course, calling it a silent film is a misnomer -- there will be plenty of music, and jazz is like a conversation between the players so there'll be no shortage of dialogue. I look forward to playing with Cecile. The contrast between Gottschalk's music and jazz can be a revelation to those unfamiliar with Gottschalk's music and jazz."
"The combination of Cecile playing Gottschalk and Wynton and his ensemble playing jazz reflects the wide-ranging nature of the American musical landscape," says Pritzker. "Louis came about when I was writing a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, the first jazz trumpeter of New Orleans, and I took my mom to see Chaplin's 'City Lights' with the Chicago Symphony performing the score. It was without a doubt the best movie experience I ever had. The challenge of trying to tell a story visually, without dialogue, was compelling. I thought that if I was going to shoot one film, I might as well try to shoot two -- the second being a silent film that picked up where Bolden ended. And it put Vilmos and me on even footing -- he'd never made a silent film before either."
Louis is a companion piece to Pritzker's Bolden, starring Anthony Mackie, Wendell Pierce and Lowry. Bolden will be released theatrically in 2011.
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