The Jazzman

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• 2009
• 1 hr 31 mins
• Drama

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John Kaddly grew up around live jazz music, his father, Bernie Kaddly, being a jazz tenor saxophonist, John who went to hear his father play live at Toronto jazz clubs even when he was a child. Despite this life barely making ends meet for their family, John nonetheless has always dreamed of making a living as a musician, specifically as a drummer. Bernie instilled in John a sense of discipline when it came to music, it being the competitive world that it is, with only the cream rising to the top in the limited opportunities. John is now estranged from his parents, the final straw being his mother, Karen Kaddly, making him feel like what he calls a "f***-up" in her desire for him to focus more attention on his schooling than just the drums, something he saw no need for in his drive to be a musician, first, last and in the middle. That fight with his mother led to him dropping out of school and moving out of the house. John has found that the life for which he aspires has not been easy to achieve, those opportunities indeed limited and he only being able to find a construction job doing the worst of the worst menial tasks under a dictatorial boss to put food on the table. Although he does eventually get a somewhat steady music opportunity with his father's friend Miles to play drums in his combo, two further hurdles present themselves, one concerning his girlfriend Sara, who teaches developmentally challenged children, and one concerning his father, more specifically what Bernie decides to do because of that hurdle. In dealing with these issues, John may find what it means to be a truly responsible adult while still being true to dreams.