"bird" (1988) Film Screening And Live Jazz Performance at Chuck Lapaglia Jazz Film Series at Jazz Gallery Center For The Arts

Please join us on Thursday evening, November 20, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. for the screening of "Bird" (1988), directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Forest Whittaker, followed by the performance of several Charlie Parker standards by the UW-Whitewater Jazz Combo under the direction of Dr. Michael Hackett.

Roger Ebert: "Clint Eastwood’s “Bird,” a musical biography of Parker...supplies us with images to go with the music, and it provides an idea of the man, more than 30 years after his death. If we are to judge by Forest Whitaker’s substantial performance, Parker was a large, warm, gentle man who was comfortable with himself and loved his work...(who was) haunted all of his days by drug addiction..."Bird" is a long, complex, ambitious movie, and it contains a lot of great music. Charles “Bird” Parker was one of the great fountainheads of jazz, a creator of bebop whose improvisations and joyful discoveries on the saxophone created a sound that is absolutely distinctive...“Bird” wisely does not attempt to “explain” Parker’s music by connecting experiences with musical discoveries. This is a film of music, not about it, and one of the most extraordinary things about it is that we are really, literally, hearing Parker on the soundtrack."...

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Please join us on Thursday evening, November 20, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. for the screening of "Bird" (1988), directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Forest Whittaker, followed by the performance of several Charlie Parker standards by the UW-Whitewater Jazz Combo under the direction of Dr. Michael Hackett.

Roger Ebert: "Clint Eastwood’s “Bird,” a musical biography of Parker...supplies us with images to go with the music, and it provides an idea of the man, more than 30 years after his death. If we are to judge by Forest Whitaker’s substantial performance, Parker was a large, warm, gentle man who was comfortable with himself and loved his work...(who was) haunted all of his days by drug addiction..."Bird" is a long, complex, ambitious movie, and it contains a lot of great music. Charles “Bird” Parker was one of the great fountainheads of jazz, a creator of bebop whose improvisations and joyful discoveries on the saxophone created a sound that is absolutely distinctive...“Bird” wisely does not attempt to “explain” Parker’s music by connecting experiences with musical discoveries. This is a film of music, not about it, and one of the most extraordinary things about it is that we are really, literally, hearing Parker on the soundtrack."

The theatrical trailer for "Bird" may be seen here: https://youtu.be/O9GGJO8HJ1E.

The UW-Whitewater Jazz Combo features Anton Saucedo on alto sax, Adam Nevala on guitar, Tommy Swanick on piano, Quentin Gilmore on bass, and Devon Powers on drums. The combo is part of an excellent college jazz program developed by Drs. Michael Hackett and Matt Sintchak. See https://youtu.be/fjIwLuQ1nBU for video of a recent performance by the larger UWW Jazz Ensemble 1 at the 58th Annual Elmhurst Jazz Fest.

The event is the third monthly film screening/live music performance in the 2025-26 Chuck LaPaglia Jazz Film Series, offered by the Jazz Gallery on its historic stage in the Bohemian Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee. The series is a tribute to Chuck LaPaglia, who as owner of the Jazz Gallery produced spectacular concerts featuring a who’s who of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Carter, Freddy Hubbard, Stan Getz, Max Roach, Jimmy Smith, Sun Ra, Mose Allison, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, McCoy Tyner, Manty Ellis and many more.

Seating is limited, and available on a first-come, first served basis; tickets are not sold for the event, but the suggested donation to the non-profit Jazz Gallery is $15 for the general public and $10 for students.

The Milwaukee Jazz Institute is a sponsor of this event.

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