'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris.

'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris is an "affectionate portrait [that] distinguishes itself from the ongoing epidemic of musician docs by mere virtue of staking out ground that hasn't already been thoroughly tilled," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice.

"That the film also makes a convincing case for Paris as one of last century's most underappreciated singers and paints a vivid picture of the be-bopping 40s and 50s jazz scene are icing on the cake of this first-rate documentary, which compassionately locates in Jackie the pain of unfulfilled aspirations, and also the wellspring of anger that helped thwart his ambition," writes Nick Schager in Slant.

Updated through 12/7.

Update, 12/7: "Raymond De Felitta seeks out the man whom the singer Billy Vera describes as 'Chet Baker times 10,'" writes Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times. "[T]he film's most powerful voice is the singer's own. In the background of most scenes and the foreground of some, his honeyed vocals - 'like the first time you hear Streisand,' swoons the novelist Norman Bogner - make an argument for the tragedy of fame denied that no fan could best."

Posted by dwhudson at December 4, 2007 2:38 PM