Transcendance et aliénation : le musicien de jazz noir dans Bird et Mo’ Better Blues

Clint Eastwood's Bird and Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues exemplify distinctive approaches to the Black jazz performer motif. Eastwood's is an idealized discourse on a properly American art form whereas Lee sees jazz as a metaphor of the African-American experience. The protagonists of both films typify specific relations between transcendence and alienation. Charlie Parker embodies the tragic interplay of aesthetic creation and self-destruction, and Bleek Gilliam the solipsism which isolates the artist from his community.Gabilliet Jean-Paul. Transcendance et aliénation : le musicien de jazz noir dans Bird et Mo’ Better Blues. In: Revue Française d'Etudes Américaines, N°57, juillet 1993. Cinéma américain : aux marches du Paradis. pp. 275-282