'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris

Raymond De Felitta:
'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris (USA, 2006)
100 min. - English

�€�Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris is a wonderful depiction of a jazz singer who lost everything. In the 1950s Jackie Paris had the keys to success in his hands. All the important names of bepop from Dizzy Gillespie to Charles Parker wanted the singer to record their songs, and Paris was predicted to be the next Tony Bennett or Sinatra. The success faded, however, as the less pleasant sides of the artist�€�s personality came forward. His self-destructive tendencies, huge ego and violent personality pushed Paris outside the circle bepop stars and the man who was praised to be �€�ten times worth of Chet Baker�€� was forgotten. Histories of jazz mark his death in 1979. The truth is different.

The film director and jazz pianist Raymond De Felitta became interested in Jackie Paris when he heard Paris in Blue, composed by Charles Mingus, that was led by the singer�€�s unforgettable voice. Passionately De Felitta started collecting anything related to Paris, but became frustrated by the small amount of material available. The disappointed director was about to end his search when he noticed a gig advertisement on the newspaper �€“ Jackie Paris wasn�€�t dead after all, and was performing live in New York. De Felitta rushed to the club with his camera and managed to record the performance that was to be one of Paris�€�s last. Jackie Paris died of bone cancer 12 weeks after meeting the director.

Trusting in the art of classical story-telling, �€�Tis Autumn: The Seach for Jackie Paris tells the story of a forgotten singer. The film and sound editing are subtle and high-quality work like the blue note releases themselves. The director De Felitte had time to interview Paris several times during his last three months, and thus was able to document his unbelievable life story. �€�Tis Autumn is a soulful film about a unique artist that was forgotten by history.

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