Review
Forced to flee 1930's Chicago and the love of his life, legendary "Stride" pianist James "Honeybear" Powell eventually rolls into a small Midwestern town, where he earns his board playing at the local hangout in the black ghetto of Short Creek. The year is 1954. Across the tracks, in the lily white part of town, 14-year-old tom-boy and piano prodigy Frances "Frankie" Trumbull first hears Honeybear's Stride piano on late-night Chicago radio. Haunted by the recent death of her older brother, Frankie is immediately captivated by Honeybear's music. She is shocked to discover Honeybear is closer than she could have imagined. But Frankie is forbidden to play this music by her politically minded, racist grandfather. Frankie dares to cross-racial barriers as she searches for spiritual redemption in Honeybear's life-affirming music. She spends nights hiding outside the Short Creek bar as Honeybear weaves his magical spell. As Frankie's grandfather and mother repeatedly reprimand her for her newfound musical interests, Frankie's father Jack, once an accomplished musician himself, recalls the importance of following one's dreams. Against a backdrop of small-town racial tensions, Honeybear becomes the unlikely and, at first, unwilling mentor to a young girl who has jazz in her soul. Together this unlikely couple, help each other rekindle all that was important in each of their lives. |
