The Best Jazz Movies Of All-Time
“What are the best movies about or featuring Jazz Music And Musicians?” We looked at 147 of the top Jazz films, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 27 films, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Jazz” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 100+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 27 Jazz Movies
27 .) A Man Called Adam (1966)
Lists It Appears On:
- Common Reader
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.
Purchase / Learn More
 |
26 .) All That Jazz (1979)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theater. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him – his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.
Purchase / Learn More
|
25 .) Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- MUBI
- U Discover Music
The film pits a humble small-town lawyer against a hard-headed big city prosecutor. Emotions flare as a jealous army lieutenant pleads innocent to murdering the rapist of his seductive, beautiful wife.
Purchase / Learn More
|
24 .) Black and Tan (1929)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Jonathan Rosenbaum
- Wikipedia
Short film featuring Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
Purchase / Learn More
|
23 .) Jammin’ the Blues (1944)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Jonathan Rosenbaum
- Wikipedia
Highly stylized chronicle of a jam session featuring Lester Young.
Purchase / Learn More
|
22 .) Jivin’ in Be-Bop (1946)
Lists It Appears On:
- Fly Paper
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
A filmed variety show featuring the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra with special guests.
Purchase / Learn More
|
21 .) Let’s Get Lost (1988)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- DW
- Fly Paper
Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.
Purchase / Learn More
|
20 .) Miles Ahead (2015)
Lists It Appears On:
- Female First
- Fly Paper
- Wikipedia
An exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis.
Purchase / Learn More
|
19 .) Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
In 1927 Kansas City Pete Kelly and his jazz band play nightly at a speakeasy. A local gangster starts to move in on them and when their drummer is killed Kelly gives in…
Purchase / Learn More
|
18 .) Sweet Smell of Success
Lists It Appears On:
- Common Reader
- MUBI
- U Discover Music
New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can’t control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.
Purchase / Learn More
|
17 .) The Connection (1961)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Mens Journal
- Wikipedia
Eight drug addicts are waiting for their connection in a New York apartment belonging to Leach. Jim Dunn, a budding filmmaker, has agreed to pay for the fix if the addicts will allow him to film the connection scene. After the men get their shots, they talk Dunn into trying heroin in order to understand the subject “first hand.” He becomes ill and while sleeping, Leach takes an overdose that puts him into a coma. Dunn recovers, with the aid of the connection, and writes off the film as a failure.
Purchase / Learn More
|
16 .) The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
Lists It Appears On:
- Common Reader
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
The story of legendary jazz drummer, Gene Krupa. Since his youth, all Gene ever wanted to do is play the drums and make music. This is something his parents would not approve of- they want him to be a priest. When Gene’s father dies he promises to enter the priesthood. He soon realizes that he doesn’t belong there and leaves to join his friend, Eddie’s band. Ethel, Eddie’s girlfriend, convinces Gene to go to New York and make it big. The 3 of them head to New York. Here Ethel and Gene soon fall in love and Gene makes a name for himself. Gene starts to live in the fast lane, with drugs, alcohol, women and parties. Ethel, unhappy with Gene’s lifestyle, leaves him. Gene soon “hits rock bottom” where he has to face reality and choose where to take his life.
Purchase / Learn More
|
15 .) The Man with a Golden Arm (1955)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- IMDB
- U Discover Music
A junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction.
Purchase / Learn More
|
14 .) Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- IMDB
- U Discover Music
- Wikipedia
Set at the Newport jazz festival in 1958, this documentary mixes images of water and the town with performers and audience. The film progresses from day to night and from improvisational music to Gospel. It’s a concert film that suggests peace and leisure, jazz at a particular time and place.
Purchase / Learn More
|
13 .) Stormy Weather (1943)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Female First
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
Dancing great Bill Williamson sees his face on the cover of Theatre World magazine and reminisces: Just back from World War I, he meets lovely singer Selina Rogers at a soldiers’ ball and promises to come back to her when he “gets to be somebody.” Years go by, and Bill and Selina’s rising careers intersect only briefly, since Selina is unwilling to “settle down.” Will she ever change her mind? Concludes with a big all-star show hosted by Cab Calloway.
Purchase / Learn More
|
12 .) The Benny Goodman Story (1955)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
The Benny Goodman Story is a biographical film starring Steve Allen and Donna Reed, directed by Valentine Davies and released by Universal Studios in 1956. The film is based on the life of famed clarinetist Benny Goodman, who recorded most of the clarinet solos used in the film. The film captures several major moments in Goodman’s life but it has been described as less than accurate in details. Goodman’s Jewish background is never explicitly mentioned, despite it playing a part in his artistic and personal endeavors for decades. In one scene, where his mother tries to talk him out of a romance with Alice Hammond, played by Donna Reed, whom Goodman eventually married, she says, “Bagels and caviar don’t mix.”
Purchase / Learn More
|
11 .) The Cotton Club (1984)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- DW
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
The story of the people that frequented Harlem’s famous nightclubs, ‘The Cotton Club’, and those that ran it.
Purchase / Learn More
|
10 .) Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
Legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard teaches young Rick Martin everything he knows about playing, so Rick becomes a star musician, but a troubled marriage and the desire to play pure jazz instead of commercial swing songs cause him problems.
Purchase / Learn More
|
9 .) Kansas City (1996)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- DW
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
Robert Altman’s story is a riff on race, class, and power cross-cuts between the two kidnappings and the background of corrupt politics and virtuoso jazz music. It all takes place in Kansas City in 1934.
Purchase / Learn More
|
8 .) Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- Female First
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
Purchase / Learn More
|
7 .) Paris Blues (1961)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- IMDB
- Mens Journal
- Wikipedia
Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike America at the time, Jazz musicians are celebrated and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to America with them, or stay in Paris for the freedom it allows them. Ram, who wants to be a serious composer, finds Paris more exciting than America and is reluctant to give up his music for a relationship, and Eddie wants to stay for the city’s more tolerant racial atmosphere.
Purchase / Learn More
|
6 .) Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- DW
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
A comedic biopic focused on the life of fictional jazz guitarist Emmett Ray. Ray was an irresponsible, free-spending, arrogant, obnoxious, alcohol-abusing, miserable human being, who was also arguably the best guitarist in the world.
Purchase / Learn More
|
5 .) The Glenn Miller Story (1953)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- DW
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
A vibrant tribute to one of America’s legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller’s rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
Purchase / Learn More
|
4 .) Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- DW
- Fly Paper
- IMDB
- Mens Journal
- Wikipedia
Opens with Bleek as a child learning to play the trumpet, his friends want him to come out and play but mother insists he finish his lessons. Bleek grows into adulthood and forms his own band – The Bleek Gilliam Quartet. The story of Bleek’s and Shadow’s friendly rivalry on stage which spills into their professional relationship and threatens to tear apart the quartet.
Purchase / Learn More
|
3 .) The Jazz Singer (1927)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Arcadia System
- Female First
- Jazz On Film
- MUBI
- Taste Of Cinema
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
Purchase / Learn More
|
2 .) Bird (1988)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- DW
- Female First
- Fly Paper
- IMDB
- Jonathan Rosenbaum
- Mens Journal
- U Discover Music
- Wikipedia
Saxophone player Charlie Parker comes to New York in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
Purchase / Learn More
|
1 .) Round Midnight (1986)
Lists It Appears On:
- Arcadia System
- Common Reader
- DW
- Fly Paper
- IMDB
- Mens Journal
- MUBI
- Taste Of Cinema
- U Discover Music
- Wikipedia
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius in director Bertrand Tavernier
Purchase / Learn More
|
The 100+ Additional Best Jazz Movies
| # | Movies | Lists |
| (Films Appear On 2 Lists Each) | ||
| 28 | A Song Is Born (1948) |
Arcadia System
|
| Wikipedia | ||
| 29 | A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) |
Arcadia System
|
| MUBI | ||
| 30 | Alfie | MUBI |
|
U Discover Music
|
||
| 31 | All Night Long (1962) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 32 | American Blue Note (1989) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 33 | Begone Dull Care (1949) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 34 | Blinkity Blank (1955) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 35 | Blue Rhythm (1931) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 36 | Boogie-Doodle (1948) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 37 | Born to Be Blue | DW |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 38 | Breathless | MUBI |
|
U Discover Music
|
||
| 39 | Cabin in the Sky (1943) |
Arcadia System
|
| IMDB | ||
| 40 | Chasing Trane (2016) | Fly Paper |
|
U Discover Music
|
||
| 41 | Chicago (2002) |
Arcadia System
|
| Wikipedia | ||
| 42 | Chico & Rita (2010) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 43 | Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 44 | I Want to Live (1958) |
Arcadia System
|
|
U Discover Music
|
||
| 45 | Jam Session (1942) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 46 | Just Friends (1993) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 47 | Knife In The Water | MUBI |
|
U Discover Music
|
||
| 48 | La La Land | DW |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 49 | Naked Lunch | MUBI |
|
U Discover Music
|
||
| 50 | One Night with Blue Note (1985) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 51 | Play Misty for Me (1971) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 52 | Rhythmatics (2010) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 53 | Shadows (1959) | MUBI |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 54 | Space Is the Place (1974) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 55 | St. Louis Blues (1958) |
Arcadia System
|
| Wikipedia | ||
| 56 | Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 57 | Swing Kids (1993) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 58 | The Five Pennies (1959) |
Arcadia System
|
|
Common Reader
|
||
| 59 | The Gig (1985) |
Arcadia System
|
|
Common Reader
|
||
| 60 | The Spirit Moves: A History of Black Social Dance on Film (1987) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 61 | The Tic Code (1998) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 62 | Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988) | IMDB |
|
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
||
| 63 | Three Little Bops (1957) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 64 | Whiplash (2014) |
U Discover Music
|
| Wikipedia | ||
| (Films Appear On 1 Lists Each) | ||
| 65 | À Bout De Souffle |
U Discover Music
|
| 66 | A Great Day in Harlem |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
| 67 | A tie between two flawed but fragrant blossoms of the ’60s: Shirley Clarke’s 1962 The Connection |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
| 68 | Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud |
U Discover Music
|
| 69 | Bird Clint Eastwood’s 1988 take on the most mythical and most hedonistic of all jazz musicians, saxophonist Charlie Parker, who lived fast and greedily and died young and grotesquely |
Common Reader
|
| 70 | Birth of Jazz | Wikipedia |
| 71 | Birth of the Blues (1941) |
Arcadia System
|
| 72 | Black Orpheus | MUBI |
| 73 | Blow-Up |
U Discover Music
|
| 74 | Blues in the Night (1941) | IMDB |
| 75 | Bolden! (2011) |
Arcadia System
|
| 76 | Bombay Velvet | Wikipedia |
| 77 | Bullitt |
U Discover Music
|
| 78 | Cabaret |
Arcadia System
|
| 79 | Chinatown |
U Discover Music
|
| 80 | Chocolat | MUBI |
| 81 | Cleopatra Jones | MUBI |
| 82 | Crazed Fruit | MUBI |
| 83 | Dingo (1990) |
Arcadia System
|
| 84 | Down by Law | MUBI |
| 85 | EDDIE PRÉVOST BLOOD |
Jazz On Film
|
| 86 | Elevator to the Gallows, | MUBI |
| 87 | Farewell, My Lovely |
U Discover Music
|
| 88 | FINDING CARLTON |
Jazz On Film
|
| 89 | Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench | Wikipedia |
| 90 | It Happened in Harlem | Wikipedia |
| 91 | Jazz (2001) | IMDB |
| 92 | JAZZ BRITANNIA |
Jazz On Film
|
| 93 | Jazz Rhythm | Wikipedia |
| 94 | Joe Lovano Interviews Wayne Shorter (2013) | Fly Paper |
| 95 | KEN SYKORA:THE MAN WITH THE JAZZ GUITAR |
Jazz On Film
|
| 96 | King of Jazz | Wikipedia |
| 97 | Last Tango In Paris |
U Discover Music
|
| 98 | Les Stances A Sophie |
U Discover Music
|
| 99 | Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990) | IMDB |
| 100 | Louis (2010) |
Arcadia System
|
| 101 | Lush Life (1993) |
Arcadia System
|
| 102 | Man Outside | MUBI |
| 103 | MARIAN MCPARTLAND: IN GOOD TIME |
Jazz On Film
|
| 104 | Midnight in Paris (2011) | IMDB |
| 105 | Miles in Paris | Wikipedia |
| 106 | Music Land | Wikipedia |
| 107 | New Orleans (1947) |
Arcadia System
|
| 108 | New York, New York |
Common Reader
|
| 109 | Odds Against Tomorrow |
U Discover Music
|
| 110 | Orchestra Wives |
Common Reader
|
| 111 | Our Dancing Daughters (1928) |
Arcadia System
|
| 112 | Paradise in Harlem (1939) |
Arcadia System
|
| 113 | Ragtime (1980) |
Arcadia System
|
| 114 | Rhapsody in Blue (1945) |
Arcadia System
|
| 115 | Rock ‘n’ Rodent | Wikipedia |
| 116 | Rosemary’s Baby | MUBI |
| 117 | Round |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
| 118 | Saturday Evening Puss | Wikipedia |
| 119 | Sexus | MUBI |
| 120 | Shaft | MUBI |
| 121 | Some Like it Hot |
Taste Of Cinema
|
| 122 | Summer Flight | MUBI |
| 123 | Superfly | MUBI |
| 124 | Sweet Love, Bitter |
Common Reader
|
| 125 | Swing Girls | Wikipedia |
| 126 | Syncopation |
Taste Of Cinema
|
| 127 | Taxi Blues | MUBI |
| 128 | The Cool World |
U Discover Music
|
| 129 | The Fabulous Baker Boys (1990) |
Female First
|
| 130 | The First Time I Turned Twenty | Wikipedia |
| 131 | The Great Gatsby |
Arcadia System
|
| 132 | The Hustler |
U Discover Music
|
| 133 | The Long Goodbye |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
| 134 | The Pawnbroker |
U Discover Music
|
| 135 | The Rat Race | Wikipedia |
| 136 | The Strip |
Common Reader
|
| 137 | The Subject is Jazz | Wikipedia |
| 138 | The Terminal (2004) | IMDB |
| 139 | The Thomas Crown Affair |
U Discover Music
|
| 140 | To Have and Have Not |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
| 141 | Too Late Blues | Wikipedia |
| 142 | TRAD |
Jazz On Film
|
| 143 | Trouble in Mind | MUBI |
| 144 | Tune in Tomorrow (1990) |
Arcadia System
|
| 145 | Waltz for Monica | Wikipedia |
| 146 | We Cellar Children | Wikipedia |
| 147 | When it Rains |
Jonathan Rosenbaum
|
13 Best Movies About Jazz Film Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| Arcadia System | Jazz/Jazz Age Films: 1920s-Present |
| Common Reader | Horns On Film | Common Reader |
| DW | 10 great films about jazz – Deutsche Welle |
| Female First | Top 7 Jazz Movies – Female First |
| Fly Paper | Here Are Our 8 Favorite Films About Jazz Horn Players – Soundfly |
| IMDB | JAZZ MOVIES – IMDb |
| Jazz On Film | jazzonfilm.com – where to find jazz musicians in the movies |
| Jonathan Rosenbaum | The Ten Best Jazz Films (1999 list) | Jonathan Rosenbaum |
| Mens Journal | The Best Jazz Movies – Men’s Journal |
| MUBI | Birth of the Cool: Jazz in Film – Movies List on MUBI |
| Taste Of Cinema | The 10 Best Movies About Jazz « Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews … |
| U Discover Music | Best Jazz Soundtracks: 25 Essential Albums You Should Own … |
| Wikipedia | Category:Jazz films – Wikipedia |
