What
was someone as young and talented as jazz musician Grace Kelly doing in San
Quentin? She was playing in a unique tribute concert for Frank Morgan, her
late, great mentor. Morgan himself was always the first to admit he spent far
too much time incarcerated there, due to drugs and flawed decision-making. However,
Morgan finally left prison for good in 1985 just in time for a mini-renaissance
of interest in the old school bop tradition. N.C. Heiken’s chronicles his
tumultuous life and beautiful music in The
Sound of Redemption: the Frank Morgan Story (trailer
here), which
screens this Sunday as part of Sound + Vision 2015.
In
a way, music was in Morgan’s blood. He was the son of Ink Spots member Stanley
Morgan, but that was a decidedly mixed blessing. Frank Morgan heard Charlie
Parker at a young age and was profoundly influenced by his music.
Unfortunately, he also developed a Bird-like heroin habit. Like most junkies,
Morgan resorted to crime to pay for his habit, but he was especially
industrious and/or reckless.
There
was indeed a time when people considered the sixteen piece San Quentin Warden’s
Band the best big band in California without any intended irony. For years, it
was his only gig. Despite all his promise, Morgan was nearly unknown beyond the
circle of musicians who played with him when he was literally just a kid, or
had had their own stint in the San Quentin Band.
Man,
the 1980s were a good decade, especially for real deal jazz greats like Morgan.
However, Morgan’s third act not one of absolutely unalloyed triumphalism. In
fact, Heikin nicely tempers the inspirational with the darker backsliding
realities of life. Things were as they were, but the music remains.
At
the heart of the film is the rather remarkable concert featuring Morgan’s
friends and colleagues, performing the standards he was most associated with.
Even though we do not hear the man himself in these sequences, they have the
right spirit nonetheless. They are also very shrewdly edited. In one memorable
scene, we clearly see one resident audience member nodding along knowingly as
trombonist and master-of-ceremonies Delfeayo Marsalis explains just how much
Morgan lost as a result of his habit.
Heikin
is also wise enough to show Kelly’s absolutely devastating performance of “Somewhere
Over the Rainbow” in its uninterrupted entirety. Frankly, seeing her in front
of that rough-looking crowd will alarm a lot of us jazz fans who remember her
as the twelve year-old prodigy who exploded onto the scene (with Morgan’s
encouragement), but she is in her early twenties now. Regardless, her rendition
is exquisitely fitting. Morgan was inspired by Bird, but he had a tender way
with ballads that was more like an alto version of Dexter Gordon (a former Central Avenue comrade).