Icons Among Us (Lars Larson, Michael Rivoira, Peter J. Vogt): USA

Reviewed by Anaiya Mussolini at the Grauman’s Theater in LA,CA. as part of the AFI film festival 2009.

Icons Among Us is one of those films that tests people’s abilities to read between the fine lines.  This movie not only talks about the truth about what jazz is really about, but the way in which they define it leaves you with a sense of wonder.  It is as if they do not want you to fully grasp what jazz truly is.  This is the very point they are trying to make. Jazz just simply can not be defined, for it is too special and too diverse to label. The director made this movie because he noticed that there was a low crowd on the jazz list and he wanted to change that and show true jazz to the world.

This movie explains how jazz isn’t just one category even though people might think that. Jazz is really everything.  There are no rules with jazz.  I also like how Nicholas Peyton, who is one of the trumpeters’s in this documentary, talks about how you need not to be well educated to do jazz. In a way jazz got people out of trouble and actually helped them through their pain, sorrow and hardships. In the movie they tell us a story of just how much real jazz has died, when premature guys get picked up by record labels and call them jazz artists.

Jazz is associated with black freedom, it is derived from them and they truly are the backbone of where jazz originated from. No one can ever take that away.  “Icons Among Us” is not just another documentary; it showcases that jazz is constantly being reinvented and opens up a world that you really can’t define. It is not so black and white, it is more of an art because it forces you and helps you find out who you truly are. In the movie they also stress the idea that true jazz musicians do not play for the money or fame but more for the love and to be themselves than change for anyone. Jazz is not about making it, it is about being the best you can be.

Jam bands are also brought up in this movie and helped jazz to be more liked by the younger crowds. These bands improvise and that has made a positive effect.This documentary makes you truly see that jazz is in your soul, you either have it or you don’t.  To me, jazz tells a story, sometimes it can be sad, while other times it can heal you and serve humanity just like food or medicine.  But you have to be willing to be giving to be a make it.

This movie emphasizes that jazz is very deep and creates moods such as positive ones as well as dark moods. Meanings need to be attached and those meanings need to make a lasting impression or the jazz artists feel they have not done their job.

I loved how this documentary explored the fact that jazz is not really a music genre. It is really an artistic free form expression that can’t really be defined by any rigid boundaries that we assigned to music genres. The editing was really good because of all the different shots, to the jumping to how they captured the artist playing. I liked that even though there were over 100 different stories; they managed to tie it all together very well.

 In the end jazz truly changes lives and helps you to see the true beauty in music.