
the Jazz Hero
Clint Eastwood, that steely-jawed, laconic American icon, revealed another side of himself to the public recently through his involvement in two jazz bio-pics: Bird, 1988, a fictionalized account of the life of saxophonist Charlie Parker, which he directed; and Straight, No Chaser, 1988, a documentary on pianist Thelonious Monk, which he produced. It seems Eastwood is a lifelong jazz lover, and that he idolizes the great jazz heroes of his youth. He’s even gone on record making an oft-heard observation: that the Western and jazz are the only two wholly original art forms to have come from America.