Readers of JAZZ LIVES know my interest in musicians who have not received their proper share of attention: recently I've been celebrating pianist Clarence Profit and trumpeter Spike Mackintosh.

But I know that there are many musicians, still on the scene, who have contributed a great deal to the music without getting their due. Worse, some of them — hardly known to the general public — have been taken advantage of by fellow musicians or people in "the music business."

This situation may always be with us, beyond fixing until fairness and generosity are automatic responses, but a pair of filmmakers have documented some of these worthy musicians who have been treated unkindly. Their documentary film is THE MUSIC NEVER DIES.  I had never heard of Jimmy Norman, composer of the song Time Is On My Side, but I had enjoyed TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM — and I knew that some of the most influential creative people had never been known, paid appropriately, or taken seriously.

THE MUSIC NEVER DIES

I first heard of the film when a friend introduced me to Jason DeBose, a Californian now working in Finland, who has been working with the film's director, the veteran artist and filmmaker Edward Hillel. I learned that the film "will tell the story of several legends of the art form as we catch up with them in their later years, where we find that even some in their seventies and eighties are still actively playing gigs all over the most jazz-loving cities of the United States." Here is a brief introduction to Hillel.​  And here you can learn more about the film.

Jason and Edward have plans for the artists they are documenting and celebrating that go beyond simply completing and screening the film. Jason told me, "A large part of the funds we intend to raise will go toward a tour that we are now organizing for a group of the musicians that are the subject of our film," a tour in countries deeply appreciative of American music but not necessarily aware of its true creators.  Here is the film's trailer.  It certainly seems a heartfelt project, worth more than a quick look. And here is the film's website.

May your happiness increase!