Synopsis

A feature-length documentary about musician, scholar and bandleader Vince Giordano who, with his 11-member band The Nighthawks, has doggedly kept alive the popular music of the 1920s and '30s for the past forty years. Through Vince's story, the viewer will be immersed in the Hot Jazz and Swing that fueled Prohibition high-jinx and cheered up Depression-era America. And they will see what it takes to make a life as a professional jazz musician in 21st Century New York. Giordano's dedication, along with a handful of others, has kept this cultural phenomenon on life support through hard times, and introduced it to a new generation of Hot Jazz devotees and virtuosos who are laying claim to this joyful, energetic music.

A feature-length documentary about musician, scholar and bandleader Vince Giordano who, with his 11-member band The Nighthawks, has doggedly kept alive the popular music of the 1920s and '30s for the past forty years. Through Vince's story, the viewer will be immersed in the Hot Jazz and Swing that fueled Prohibition high-jinx and cheered up Depression-era America. And they will see what it takes to make a life as a professional jazz musician in 21st Century New York. Giordano's dedication, along with a handful of others, has kept this cultural phenomenon on life support through hard times, and introduced it to a new generation of Hot Jazz devotees and virtuosos who are laying claim to this joyful, energetic music.