The Jive Aces Present... “Be Cool” (Cinema).

Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Christina Milian, The Rock, Andre 3000, Harvey Keitel
Director: F. Gary Gray
Writer: Peter Steinfeld

The Jive Aces Connection:
The Jive Aces have performed at a book launching with John Travolta a while back. Also, as described below, Steve Lucky and Carmen Gettit, featured in a club scene with their band the Rumba Bums, toured with the Jive Aces in France.

What do the Jive Aces do on a very rare and much deserved night off from their mad schedule? You may think that as soon as we get back from a tour we would want to get away from each other, but no, we all went to the movies together. To be more precise, we saw the new John Travolta movie, "Be Cool". It is a great satire on the music business in LA. Steve Lucky and Carmen Gettit from the Rumba Bums (Steve used to play piano with us many years ago when were touring France). Well done chaps!

"Be Cool". the title says it all! From the gangsta' rappers to the Rock's homosexual minder/body guard everyone exudes (or attempts to exude) their own idea of cool, although Vince Vaughn's white-man-who-thinks-he's-black character is having a hard time keeping it up in the face of disrespect. It is centered around Chilli Palmer, played excellently again by John Travolta after the success of "Get Shorty" (which was about ten years ago - is it that long?).

He is himself almost a lesson in how to remain cool and insoucient in a cut throat business (I mean the character Chilli, not John in the movie business - although actually the same could be said). Chilli Palmer is now successful in the movie business, getting fed up with it and wanting to move into the music business, which is even more full of gangsters and wise guys. He becomes a stable champion for an up-and-coming singer and for the widow of an old friend who owns a record company in the random and often dangerous world of music.

It is clever and builds the characters up until you really know them and how they will react, although some are quite subtle so some funny bits could be lost on the less observant, but mainly its a great send up. I can't imagine anyone is really like this in the music biz in LA....

One of my favourite quotes from the film is where Chilli Palmer is asked why everybody is trying to kill him and he ryly replies "I'm in the music business now, it could be anyone".

An extra for us was seeing our old mates Steve Lucky and Carmen Gettit from the California swing band the Rumba Bums. They are in a couple of scenes doing "Mellow Saxophone" and "Chatanooga Choo Choo". We met Steve and Patsy aka Carmen years ago in Switzerland and he played piano for the Jive Aces on a tour of France and Carmen sang with us. Both very talented and if you haven't seen the Rumba Bums, do catch their show if you are out in the Bay Area.

The Jive Aces Present... (cont.)