Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon

Title:              Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon
Director:              Doug McIntyre, Penny Peyser
Producer:            Doug McIntyre, Penny Peyser
Screenwriter:    Doug McIntyre, Penny Peyser
Cinema:               John Gannon
Editor:                  Matt McUsic
Year:                     2008 (90 minutes)

Synopsis: Who is Jack Sheldon? You may remember him as Merv Griffin’s trumpet-wielding sidekick, or the indelible voice of School House Rock (I’m just a bill. Yes I’m only a bill.”), but musicians know him as a jazz giant. Unlike his close friend and collaborator, Chet Baker, Jack Sheldon survived the demons of drugs, alcohol and unspeakable personal tragedy. As friend Billy Crystal puts it, Jack Sheldon is the “last cat standing” from the bebop generation. Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon features on-camera interviews with Clint Eastwood, Billy Crystal, Merv Griffin, Chris Botti, and Johnny Mandel among others, along with historic footage with Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton and other legends. Penny Peyser and Doug McIntyre’s award-winning Trying to Get Good examines the eternally dissatisfied soul of a musical perfectionist and his quest to just ‘figure things out” – both musically and personally.

Review: Okay, the truth is that I never heard of Jack Sheldon. I’m too young to remember him as Merv Griffin’s sidekick on Griffin’s TV show and I’m not enough of a jazz fan to recognize his name. Yet, when I heard that he sang School House Rock, I immediately knew his voice. Jack Sheldon just might be the coolest guy I’ve never heard of.

In Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon, directors Penny Peyser and Doug McIntyre introduce us to a man that has had more success, more failure, more high points, and more low points, than just about anyone on the planet. He is immensely successful as a jazz musician, yet he has a history of acting in ways that tend to prevent his own success. From alcohol and drug use, to just plain wacky behavior, Sheldon is the quintessential self-destructive personality. Yet he somehow not only survives, but ultimately thrives.

As I watched the film, I was somewhat amazed at how I was almost instantly drawn into the life of a guy I had never heard of before. Jack Sheldon is an unbelievably interesting character who has lived a full life, full of joy and tragedy, and continues “trying to get good” on the trumpet and in his life. Kudos to directors Penny Peyser and Doug McIntyre for putting together such a wonderful film. Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon is terrific.

(4.0 out of 5.0)