Live performance by jazz saxophonist Roy Richardson, director Steven R. Berry in person!
Friday, April 12, 7PM
Scribe Video Center
4212 Chestnut St.
Tickets: $5, Free for Scribe and Reelblack members
This work-in-progress presents a history of the Philly Jazz Scene, from the 1940s to the present, through the recollections, opinions, and of the course the music of local jazz artists who continue to create and perform their music despite the economic odds against them. Documentary footage and interviews are interwoven with musical interludes that celebrate and display Philly’s rich jazz culture.
The title of this first feature length documentary written and directed by Steven R. Berry pays tribute to the late WRTI Jazz historian and radio host, Harrison Ridley, Jr. whose long running Sunday evening show at the WRTI radio station was titled with the same name. This film was inspired by several conversations that Steven had with Harrison in reaction to Ken Burn’s documentary series entitled, JAZZ.
Steven R. Berry’s films range from experimental, biographical to advertisement. He has made films for the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) , the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation(GPTMC), the artist James Dupree, and was the lead editor and cinematographer for a Scribe “Precious Place” film entitled, Engine 11: A journey of Discovery and Segregation, which has aired on PBS.
In 2011 Berry completed a half hour documentary on the legendary pianist, Trudy Pitts entitled, Trudy Pitts: In her own Words and Language! More recently, he completed another short film on jazz entitled, On Bass in Philadelphia. He is presently in post production for A Historical Approach to the Positive Music: Jazz in Philadelphia.
Storyville is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
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