Ben Makinen - JazzTown

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BMAKIN FILM PRESENTS

_ JazzTown The Movie

JazzTown is being offered in 2022 by director/producer Ben Makinen for a donation in the amount of your choosing!

Click on the "Donate" button on any page of this website. You will be taken to Ben's Paypal page. Make a donation, leave your email address, and Ben will send you a private link to watch the award-winning 92 minute documentary JazzTown!

You may also donate via Venmo using: @Ben-Makinen or

Paypal direct: @benmakinen

This Offer is Limited Time Only!

JazzTown - The Movie

Cast includes:

~ Dianne Reeves, 5-time GRAMMY® Award winner for Best Jazz Vocalist

~ US Senator John Hickenlooper (former Governor of Colorado & jazz club owner)

~ Ron Miles, trumpet (Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Ginger Baker)

~ Charlie Hunter, guitar-bass (Snarky Puppy, Christian McBride, Stanton Moore)

~ Art Lande, piano (Mark Isham, Gary Peacock)

~ Ayo Awosika, vocalist (Miley Cyrus, Dune 2021, Rob Thomas, The Lion King Soundtrack)

and many more ...

Denver’s iconic and Grammy Award-winning musicians reveal the secrets of their success and longevity in the music business while warning the young lions to whom they pass the torch to stay relevant in a marketplace both treacherous and brutal.

The majestic Rocky Mountains tower over a bustling metropolis filled with steamy and romantic nightclubs where jazz flourishes on stage. JazzTown features never seen before live concert footage on historic stages that have now crumbled due to economic stresses of the Covid Pandemic. Tragically, more than a few of the stellar musicians featured in JazzTown have died during the making of this movie. Their stories and their passion and their wisdom live on to entertain and inspire the next generation.

American drummer and filmmaker Ben Makinen began making JazzTown 11 years ago as a way to say thank you to his early mentors in jazz and to preserve their stories. As their colorful and star-studded histories came to light Makinen realized the importance of broadening the scope of the film to include the young lions whose careers they helped to shape.

JazzTown, a feature length documentary, written, directed and produced by jazz drummer Ben Makinen, explores the many different voices in Denver's jazz scene and pays homage to his early mentors who played with jazz icons Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker and more!

Please make a Donation and help support the independent documentary filmmaking of Ben Makinen by clicking on the PayPal Donate button below.

Westword interview JazzTown director Ben Makinen

JAZZTOWN - The Movie