"Keep On Keepin' On" Jazz Trumpeter/Educator Clark Terry
by iralax
Lovers of jazz and people who rise above adversity to challenge the status quo will find great pleasure in the documentary Keep On Keepin’ On, about the friendship of trumpeter Clark Terry (1920-2015) with jazz superstar Quincy Jones and the young piano prodigy, Justin Kauflin. Kauflin is blind and Clark Terry is losing his sight due to lifelong complications from diabetes. The film depicts Terry’s early days growing up poor in St. Louis, where he fashioned his first horn out of old tubing and pipe he found. Then it covers his early career with the Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras, followed by years playing with other jazz luminaries. He became the first African-American to play with the NBC Tonight Show Band (1962-72) and eventually played on over 900 recordings! But just as important to him was his time spent educating budding musicians, including the young Quincy Jones (his first student) and Justin Kauflin (his last student), which forms the main thread of this fascinating film.
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