Hilarious and tragic

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2001)

Sweet and Lowdown is rather minor Woody, much in the vein of Broadway Danny Rose and Radio Days, but still a fascinating and hilarious jazz history piece. The film is like the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, except the stories are played out between narration -- where different versions of legends exist, we see them all.
Emmett Ray was a typically tortured-soul jazz phenom in the swing age, "the best guitar player in the world, except for some gypsy in France," Django Reinhardt, who "haunted" him. Legend has it that whenever he saw Django, Ray would either faint or cry.
Ray's escapades are hilarious and tragic. Pimp -- er, "manager" -- kleptomaniac, drunk, and genius on the guitar, he loses jobs, marries impetuously, and squanders money. He likes to go down to the railyards and watch the trains -- on dates! "Hey, let's go down to the dump and shoot some rats!" Every girl's dream date. His wife marvels at his "genuine crudeness."
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the Emmett Ray saga is that it is so cryptic. Little is known about him, and no one knows what became of him in the end. As Woody says in conclusion, fortunately he made several recordings before fading away (or maybe going to Europe?) that preserved his tremendous playing, which in the end was every bit as good as Django Reinhardt's.