Film

The Gathering: Roots and Branches of Los Angeles Jazz

Director

Thomas Paige

Year

2019

It's not really a band, it's a movement.

This vibrant documentaty chronicles a multigenerational music project started in 2005 by Jesse Sharps, one of the bandleaders of Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. The film features a stellar cast of players, including some of the hottest emerging talents from the area, and focuses on the Leimert Park district and progressive jazz scene of Los Angeles, covering the history of the music, and the long tradition of community elders guiding the young up-and-coming players on the scene. Featured are some extraordinary performances by local legends Azar Lawrence, Dwight Trible, Kamau Daáood, Michael Session, Ndugu Chancler, and Phil Ranelin, along with rising stars Brandon Coleman, Kamasi Washington, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and Randal Fisher.