'The Eddy' Featurettes Focus On The Jazz That 'La La Land' Director Damien Chazelle Loves So Much
In case Whiplash and La La Land weren't enough evidence that Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle loves jazz, he has a new Netflix series that will reinforce his passion.
The Eddy is an eight-episode series taking place in various neighborhoods of Paris, following New York jazz pianist Elliot Udo (André Holland of Moonlight) as he runs a struggling club called The Eddy, which features a house band that includes his on-again-off-again girlfriend Maja (Joanna Kuling). Plenty of drama unfolds among these characters and more in Paris, but there's also a lively jazz soundtrack, which has been teased in The Eddy featurettes that Netflix recently revealed.
The Eddy Featurettes
Netflix is touting The Eddy as a series that "conveys the power of music to heal, unite and turn chaos into beauty." And there will be plenty of music to do just that since this featurette reveals that there around 20 new, original songs written for this movie by Grammy-winning musician Glen Ballard, working with The Eddy's house band, which is made up of real-life musicians Randy Kerber, Ludovic Louis, Lada Obradovic, Jowee Omicil and Damian Nueva Cortes. Much of the music is ralso ecorded live on the set of The Eddy, which isn't common for projects like this.
The various talking heads in the featurette, including some of the French talent involved with the series, aim to reassure those who may not like jazz to give the show a chance. It seems a little pretentious when you have Glen Ballard saying the show is about "redefining what jazz can be," but he's a Grammy winner, and I'm not, so there you go.
If you'd like even more of a taste of the music, here's a clip that was shared for International Jazz Day this week:
Directed by Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Emmy Award winner Alan Poul (Tales of the City), Houda Benyamina (Divines) and Laïla Marrakchi (Le Bureau des Légendes), the Netflix original series THE EDDY is an eight-episode drama that takes place in the vibrant multicultural neighborhoods of modern-day Paris. Once a celebrated jazz pianist in New York, Elliot Udo (André Holland) is now the co-owner of struggling club The Eddy, where he manages the house band fronted by lead singer and on-again-off-again girlfriend Maja (Joanna Kulig). As Elliot learns that his business partner Farid (Tahar Rahim) may be involved in some questionable practices at the club, secrets begin to come to light that have also been concealed from Farid's wife Amira (Leïla Bekhti), and when Elliot's troubled teenage daughter Julie (Amandla Stenberg) suddenly arrives in Paris to live with him, his personal and professional worlds quickly start to unravel as he confronts his past, fighting to save the club and protect those closest to him.
The Eddy arrives on Netflix on May 8, 2020.