How Realistic Are These Jazz Scenes in Films?? Jazz Musician Reacts

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[JackHammer]

To be a little fair to whiplash, Simmons' character stopping even though there isn't anything wrong with the tempo is kind of the point, he's exerting dominance over the band and the new drummer. I don't really look at the movie from a musically accurate standpoint but more so of a the story of a toxic mentor influencing a young talent

[ToomanyFrancis]

As a drummer that first began studying jazz in middle school, the scene in soul is 100% accurate. That's exactly how my first rehearsal went, I've only gotten worse since then.

[Kringlord]

My band teacher was notorious for throwing shoes at us so for me the first clip is like an 8/10 accuracy

[matthewjones]

I love that in Soul, an animated movie with a potential kid audience, there's so much time dedicated to letting the main character get lost in his music. Check out any making-of videos if you can, the detail in the animation of Joe's fingers as he plays is unbelievable.

[MrJagermeister]

Re: La La Land, he got fired because he was there to play Christmas music. Explicitly, only Christmas music. And he’d already gotten into it with J.K. Simmons’ character about playing other stuff and was met with a *HARD* no, so as beautiful as it was what he played, it was a musical “f**k you, I quit” right before getting fired, lol. Also, it blows my mind (as a piano player) that Ryan Gosling didn’t know how to play coming on to this film.

[razordu]

"I don't think I've really ever encountered many people who would outright be like, 'I hate jazz.'"

Oh, Charles; so innocent.

[ruskasielu]

Personally, what got me into jazz was deffo the whole low-fi/neosoul movement, japanese fusion ...and your channel of course ! Can't say I'm actually familiar yet with the genre, but I'm interested in digging deeper !

[patflynn]

Middle school band teacher would blow his temper and throw his baton at students 😬 So first clip was relatable.

[Hardymovies]

I guess the thing is with the first clip, the whole thing is that there was never really a problem with the tempo, and that scene was entirely to demonstrate the power games that JK Simmons character played, and would define the characters relationship to the rest of the film. In a way that shows really JK Simmon’s character cared more about character and prestige than the music itself

[nicoomycousin]

I feel so validated when you say the scene in Soul was a 0/10 accuracy for gig auditions. When I first watched it, I remember feeling incredibly anxious and internally screaming, “You’re not listening to the bandddd”

And then when he got the gig, I seriously questioned my band experience. So weird when the narrative doesn’t match reality.

[RJTheCerealGuy]

I can just imagine charles being in the orchestra in whiplash and just laughing his ass off in the background

[eddielovato]

We had a “violently confrontational” band director in 5th grade music class. His beef wasn’t over tempo, but still hilarious nonetheless. His reaction to us unruly children paralleled Terence Fletcher’s in this scene. Priceless!

[harryikel]

love this!
BUT
i'm gonna be that guy
the whiplash scene is SUPPOSED to be weirdly nit-picky, and neimann probably isn't doing anything wrong. fletcher's using the moment purely and simply to show neimannn exactly how harsh he can be. it establishes the dynamic for the rest of the film, even if it isn't accurate - it's intentional :)

[williamwitt]

This was a blast. Some scenes I'd love to see you rate are:
The Legend of 1900 - Jazz piano battle
Sweet and Low Down - Hot Jazz scenes.
The Captains - Avery Brooks playing piano while be interviewed by William Shatner
Anchorman - Jazz Flute

[VOLAIRE]

JK Simmons needs to be in every movie about music just so that him appearing can be a running gag, haha

[alexanderschwab]

There’s an interview with the director of Whiplash. He was a drummer at college/conservatory and the story is an ”over-the top” representation of his experience through it. His teacher actually made him really anxious so I guess there are examples of it

[marksutter]

I’ve seen a lot of reviews about Whiplash about how over the top it is. I thought it was painfully accurate based on many teachers and coaches I had throughout the years. I’m glad to find out my experiences weren’t typical, but I found Whiplash to be scarily close to real life.

[Liz-nbrq]

Hey charles i just wanna say i really appreciate your videos. I went to a school where courses are jazz oriented, i love jazz however I grew up playing classical and couldn't find any teacher that taught jazz (I'm from china). And because my major was sound design, i barely had the time to improve on jazz performance or anything in that regard. Some events also happened in school that discouraged me. Now that it's been half a year after graduation, I decided to pick it up again. Decided to teach myself jazz composition and I started to practice piano regularly to overcome this mental block, and watching your videos is a HUGE help to get me in the mood. Yk how sometimes you just need a stimulation to put you in that mental space.
I also just listened to your album Tales, the vibe is so warm and beautiful it instantly made me happier. Thank you for all the effort put into your music and videos <3

[julianjustin]

8:16 I remember Chick Corea telling a story about how Miles invited him to play, but there was no rehearsal and miles just said "play what you hear"
And without knowing any songs I guess he just played along and afterwards got complimented by him

IMAGINE THE PRESSURE

[PyrozPlayground]

Dude.. the way you went into that whole chord progression thing around 6:50, reminded me of one of my college professors when I took music theory and piano classes. Our prof used to go into these long progression-filled tunes with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. The same way you did. Thanks for reminding me of those days, man. 🥺☺♥️