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‘TIS AUTUMAN: THE SEARCH FOR JACKIE PARIS
Written, Narrated & Directed by Raymond De Felitta.
Produced by David Zellerford.
Camera, Jeremy Saulnier, Chad Davidson, Eli Heitin & Ruben O’Malley.
Edited by John Wayland.
Released by Outsider Pictures.
USA.100 min. Not Rated.
With Jackie Paris, Joe Franklin, Billy Vera, Harlan Ellison, Mike Douglas & Peter Bogdanovich.

Prior to this documentary, my knowledge of this jazz singer was just that – he was a jazz singer. This led me to do what every breathing human being does when faced with this situation…I opened up a Google browser. In skimming a few bios of Paris, I failed to find anything that uniquely stood out about the 1940’s singer who had a more-than-decent, less-than-great career, highlighted by a brief tour with renowned saxophonist Charlie Parker. I went into the film thinking that there has to be something that Wikipedia must be missing. I should know better than to question Wikipedia.

‘Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris does its homework in interviewing a wide variety of people spanning the musician’s entire life – family members, songwriters, fans, musicians, wives, critics, etc., in addition to Paris (who died in 2004). However, the interviews aren’t as in-depth or revealing as one would expect. The film ponders some of the possible reasons for Paris’s up-and-coming-turned-underachieving career – womanizing, violence, an uncompromising ego – but lacks the grit to directly tackle these matters.

The filmmakers, who have total access to an obviously wilting Paris, do not take advantage of this luxury. Writer/director/narrator Raymond De Felitta is too soft on and too emotionally attached to his subject to ask Paris the tough questions. The late singer denies ever having a child, but when told about a newspaper article once mentioning “his wife and child,” he is noticeably caught off-guard and defensively mumbles while De Felitta does him the favor of changing the subject – a benevolent act at the price of insightful filmmaking. (The search for and eventual interview with Paris’s son is one of the film’s most intriguing and surprising.)

The film drags when interview testimonies become repetitive, and De Felitta’s narration comes off as more opinionated than factual, whether its calling one of Paris’s now-forgotten records “groundbreaking” or his lack of exposure “criminal.” Not being an avid fan of this musical era might be the reason I missed the boat on this film, but there are enough missing elements in ‘Tis Autumn to conclude that it’s a less than successful resuscitation. Matt Alesevich
December 7, 2007