De Felitta previously directed the modest family comedies Two-Family House and The Thing About My Folks. The filmmaker injects himself into the Jackie Paris story, framing it as his own quest for a lost singer and his elusive recordings. De Felitta's appearances in the film are not too intrusive and give it a personal touch. More disruptive are recitations of news clippings and other ephemera by actors Peter Bogdanovich and Frank Whaley, and author Nick Tosches, with clippings projected behind the dramatically lit performers. They are fine dramatic readings but don't further the story so much as call attention to itself. But for the final reel or so, De Felitta lets the most powerful material in the film speak for itself.
Like the best music documentaries, 'Tis Autumn will make you want to dig out your musty records and rare CDs if you have them . And if you don't have any Jackie Paris, you'll want to buy some. His CDs are hard to come by in the US, but Paris is surprisingly well-served in the realm of MP3 downloads. Amazon sells his classic '50s albums Skylark and Songs by Jackie Paris in 256kbps MP3 format, and iTunes does that better, offering three classic albums — as well as his recording of "'Round Midnight" — for digital download.
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Article comments
1 - James A. Gardner
Many of the best biographies I've read and documentaries I've seen have been about "should have been huge" artists like this, that make me want to learn more about them. This sounds like one of those. Nice review.