Review of 'Round Midnight

It is perhaps telling that the two greatest non - American jazz musicians(Django Reinhardt and Michel Petrucciani)were both French because of all the European nations,France was the quickest to "get" jazz and recognise its validity as an art form,laud and give sanctuary to it's black pioneers.Certainly up until the early 1960s racism was fairly rare in France and many black musicians with international reputations took up residence in that country,happy to leave "Jim Crow" behind.From the mid 1930s there was a twenty year ban imposed by the Musicians' Union against American jazz musicians playing in the UK. Ludicrous when you consider that 20 miles away some of the best of them were performing every night. So when Dale Turner(Mr Dexter Gordon) begins his self-imposed exile in Paris he is following a well - established trail. A compassionate,sensitive and intelligent man,Turner has addiction issues that he is trying to address,but working in clubs is not the best environment for someone with his problems. But,above all,Turner has a God - given gift for playing the saxophone. Tired and worn out as he is,he is still capable of making music of great beauty.Respected by fellow musicians and revered by his admirers,"Round Midnight" tells of Turner's stay in Paris,and is a movie that loves jazz and loves the people who play jazz. Mr Dexter Gordon slips seamlessly into the Dale Turner persona,never quite drunk,never quite sober;in the end only wanting to play his saxophone,his whole life encapsulated in notes that sometimes seem to be more than mere music.He is clearly not acting,this is himself brutally exposed,a man almost but not quite beaten by life. People who love him try to save him from himself,but he is determined to go his own way.Jazz musicians do not,as a rule,have easy lives. Constant touring,at the mercy of different rhythm sections every night, always the "fan" with a connection...........it is not a recipe for longevity.In the end Dale Turner returns to America,reverts to drug use and dies soon after.Whether he would have survived had he stayed in Paris is problematic.I think in the final analysis it was just his time."Round Midnight"is very sad yet it celebrates the most life-affirming form of music on earth.Mr Gordon made an album for Blue Note entitled "Our Man In Paris";in it you will hear Long Tall Dexter at his muscular best,far different from the slightly halting playing of his later years. Never mind the moon landings,never mind the Internet or Henry Ford or Bill Gates,jazz is America's greatest gift to the world."Round Midnight" is France's way of saying "Thank you".