Keep on Keepin’ On

Keep On Keepin’ On is a documentary directed by Alan Hicks. At this year’s Tribeca Film Festival the film won the Audience Award and Hicks won the Best New Documentary Director prize.

KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON depicts the remarkable story of 93-year-old jazz legend Clark Terry. A living monument to the Golden Era of Jazz, Terry – a mentor to Miles Davis – is among the few performers ever to have played in both Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s bands. (The film) highlights his friendship with the preternaturally gifted Justin Kauflin, a blind, 23-year-old piano prodigy who suffers from debilitating stage fright. Not long after Kauflin is invited to compete in an elite Jazz competition, Terry’s health takes a turn for the worse. As the clock ticks, we see two friends confront the toughest challenges of their lives.

Hicks, who studied jazz in New York, had a chance encounter at a club with Clark Terry and studied with him for a time. The lessons Hicks learned from him about music helped in the making of his first film. “What I know about being a leader, I learned from Clark. He taught me how to put together a band and how important it is to surround yourself with good people. He told me “the better they are, the better you sound.” He also taught me to follow my gut instinct, push people gently in the direction of their best work and lead by example all of which I tried to use in the film.”

Keep On Keepin’ On is rated PG.

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