Louis: A Silent Movie with Live Accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis

Trumpeter, composer, and 2011 NEA Jazz Master Wynton Marsalis performs his live score to accompany a screening of director Dan Pritzker's 2010 silent Louis Armstrong biographical film Louis, joined by classical pianist Cecile Licad and an all-star 10-piece jazz ensemble in this immersive multimedia experience at the Bay Area’s Art Deco movie palace, the Oakland Paramount.

A modern reimagining of early silent film in the Chaplin tradition, Louis follows a six-year-old Louis Armstrong (Anthony Coleman) and his adventures on the streets of New Orleans in 1907 as he dreams of being a musician and navigates the seamier side of life in the Big Easy. Directed by Dan Pritzker (Bolden) and gorgeously photographed in sepia tones by the legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (The Deer Hunter, Deliverance, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Louis celebrates the deep musical heritage of New Orleans, featuring an original score by Wynton Marsalis.

From his New Orleans beginnings and fiery debut with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers to his string of acclaimed albums and current role as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis has become an iconic figure in the art form. He’s amassed nine GRAMMYs and the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first ever awarded to a jazz artist, and received the SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award at SFJAZZ Gala 2022.

Manila-born virtuoso classical pianist Cecile Licad made her debut at age seven as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Philippines, and at 20 was one of the youngest musicians to receive the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal.