Ears
of all ages can appreciate good jazz. In fact, there is an under-the-radar
tradition of jazz children’s music going back decades. The late, great Phil Woods
released a CD inspired by A.A. Milne in 2009. More awkwardly, Horace Silver
released his Guide to Growing Up, with
voice-overs by Bill Cosby back in the early 1980s. Of course, the classic
examples would be Raymond Scott’s repurposed cartoon soundtracks. The Swedish
jazz combo Oddjob followed in this tradition with their EP Jazzoo, which they have now adapted as an animated short film with
director Adam Marko Nord. Jazzoo is
one of three tremendously entertaining music-themed short films screening at
the 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival.
Jazzoo screens as part of
the Shorts for Tots program, but any
adult who doesn’t start tapping their toes to Oddjob's groovy, up-tempo tunes is
a total weirdo as far as we’re concerned. They will introduce us to a heaving,
hot hippo who seeks some cooling relief with the help of one hardy little
birdy. After that, a resourceful orange fish successfully plays a game of
cat-and-mouse with a shark. A little koala cub figures out how he can bounce along
with a kanga’s roo and then a gaggle of elephants party and get-down, to the annoyance
of the wet blanket monkeys. It all goes zipping along, thanks to the colorful animation
and Oddjob’s propulsive music, especially the crisply swinging muted trumpet of
Goran Kajfes.
Similarly.
there is no dialogue in Alejandro García Caballero’s Tintico’s Afternoons, but the music says plenty. A retired
rumba-mambo bandleader still has the trumpet chops to accompany his old 78s,
much to the delight of a mosquito combo, who play right along with him.
However, when his old Victrola conks out, his spirit goes with it. Somehow, the
‘squitoes will have to find away to restart the music, which sounds fabulous.
Old masters like Machito and Tito Rodriguez would surely approve of Daniel
Hidalgo’s soundtrack. As an added bonus, the animation is also quite elegant
and sophisticated.
In
contrast, there is plenty of talking in Marie Jamora’s Flip the Record (trailer here), but the real communication will be done
with turntables. Hip hop and turntablism was new and fresh in the 1980s and
Vanessa is an early adopter. The music hits her on a deep level, but her DJing
older brother just sees her as his annoying kid sister, whereas she sees
herself as DJ Vandal.
Courtney
Bandeko already has a number of credits on her resume—and it is easy to tell
why from her performance as Vanessa/Vandal. She just radiates charisma and star
power, but she looks believable behind the turntables, as well. Bandeko is
terrific, but Jamora also includes some appealing eighties nostalgia (remember
when watching Love Boat and Fantasy Island was the thing to do on a
Friday night? Vaguely?), while incorporating colorful but loving scenes of life
of in a conservative Catholic Filipino-American family. The passion for vinyl will
do your heart good if you’ve ever done any crate-digging, but parents should be
cautioned, there are one or two swear words, because this is hip hop after all.
