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Review

Despite the engaging presence of Washington and a catchy jazz score by Bill Lee and Branford Marsalis, Lee's story of jazz musicians is a disapointment. Saddled with an uninvolving script, Spike fails to capture the creative spark and passion of the jazz world and its habitués. Washington plays Bleek Gilliam, a moderately successful trumpet player and singer who, to the detriment of the plot, is a really "nice guy" whose only flaw seems to be his inability to settle down with just one girlfriend. Don't be completely turned off by this criticism, however, for even Lee's failures are more interesting and enjoyable than most of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood. The one truly inexcusable aspect of the movie is Lee's heinously anti-Semitic depiction of the exploitive Jewish club owners.