Woody Herman

Documentary about the mid-20th century Vegas bandleader and trumpeter Louis Prima, who showed the world what a rock show could be.

A gambling hall owner relocates from New Orleans to Chicago and entertains his patrons with hot jazz by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, and others.

Nora and her uncle get railroaded into spending the night at a broken-down hotel in Canada. After Nora falls for the handsome owner, she convinces her uncle to invest in the inn and modernize it. After the hotel opens, Nora's uncle faces financial ruin and her romance hit a snag in the form of pretty reporter.

A repressed poetess and an embittered war hero help each other cope with their problems.

As dancer Ginny Walker performs on stage, a veiled woman in the audience stands up, accuses Ginny of stealing her husband and then fires a gun at her. After Ginny collapses and is taken to her dressing room, the woman, Julia Westcolt, a friend of Ginny's, dashes backstage, discards her veil, and then congratulates her friend on their successful publicity stunt. When Ginny's press agents, Gus Crane and his son Junior, visit their client backstage, she brags about her feat and chides them for not being more creative in promoting her. Horrified at Ginny's brashness, Junior, a conservative Harvard graduate, chastises her and leaves the room.

Woody Herman's orchestra plays five tunes, and guest performers sing and dance.

Woody Herman spins a fairy tale about how his Woodchopper Grandpappy Herman chopped the wood necessary to form the clarinet Woody inherited and uses. Grandpappy formed it and put out magical enchanting sounds like the Pied Piper.

Woody Herman features a blistering one-hour concert from 1964 showcasing one of the very hottest line-ups of the “Swinging Herd,” including trumpeter Bill Chase, trombonist Phil Wilson and the amazing saxophonist Sal Nistico on the front line, as well as drummer Jake Hanna, bassist Chuck Andrus and pianist-arranger Nat Pierce in the rhythm section. Woody and his band roar throughout the entire show which includes standards such as Lonesome Old Town and After You've Gone as well as new originals including Charles Mingus's Better Git It in Your Soul.

J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the classics and won't allow him to replace Professor Bistell and his symphonic orchestra. Conspiring with his daughter Sue and her friends, Marvo the Great, the Andrews Sisters, Anne Payne and bandleader Woody Herman, they devise a sabotage plot that gets rid of Professor Bistell, and a new sound is soon heard on the program.

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The life, music and legacy of bandleader and clarinetist Woody Herman is explored in this documentary that includes interviews with the master, himself, along with musicians and jazz historians such as Dan Morgenstern, Terry Gibbs, Joe Lovano, Jeff Hamilton and many others