Press
The Wall Street Journal: ‘Keep On Keepin’ On’
The Acclaimed Documentary From Al Hicks Gets A Glowing Review
Keep On Keepin’ On, the directorial debut of Al Hicks, is one of those stories that cried out for the big screen treatment from the moment it started unfurling.
The premise of the documentary is simple. Clark Terry, an acclaimed jazz legend whose mastery of the trumpet earned him a career so impressive that it got its tendrils into pop culture around the globe, was 89 when he met Justin Kauflin. Still a dominant force in the musical scene, Terry’s vision was failing, and his health had started to halt the rollout of the live performances that had made his name.
Kauflin, by contrast, was much younger than Terry when the two men met – he was 23, approaching the start of his career, rather than the end of it. But he too faced an obstacle that led to new creative directions in his musical life: he had lost his vision completely when just a child.
The friendship between the two men blossomed over the next half a decade, a meeting of minds that is covered with sensitivity, warmth and heart in Hicks’ acclaimed documentary.
For a full review of Keep On Keepin’ On, by Joe Morgenstern of The Washington Post,