Jim Gabour
- Director
- Producer
During a post-graduate teaching assistantship in film (for some unknown reason, as his MFA is in Sculpture), while continuing to support himself with newspaper reviews, Gabour was offered an opportunity to write and direct for television. He again focused his attention on music, and in the manner so inherent to a life in broadcast TV, bumbled his way into large-scale music & culture productions, eventually directing a four-hour live worldwide broadcast for the BBC from Mardi Gras in Rio, Trinidad, and New Orleans. And then directed a theatrical documentary for Island Films on the roots of American music.
Gabour has primarily been involved with musicians, and bikers, through much of his adult life. His musical fascination is undoubtedly due to the fact that he remains unsuccessful playing music, but in spite of that, doing well taking pictures of it being played by others. In recent years he has become a Grammy-nominated, RIAA-platinum-certified film & video producer/director, working with artists as diverse as Norah Jones, Al Green, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flaming Lips, Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, Ice T, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Queen Latifah, Usher and James Taylor.
He produced and directed Norah Jones' first concert film for Capitol and Blue Note Records, which became a multi-platinum DVD and spent five weeks at #1 in worldwide sales. He wrote, co-produced and directed a documentary on composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard, for which he received a Grammy nomination, as a finalist with films from Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Gorillaz, and Death Cab for Cutie. Gabour's film lost to Springsteen, but Gabour deferred to The Boss in any case. An official selection of a number of prestigious international festivals like Rotterdam and Buenos Aires, the documentary has been made a part of the permanent collection of the American Jazz Museum.
For over thirty years, Gabour has been highly involved in documenting and sharing culture, music, and history, especially of of New Orleans, contributing almost 300 hours of historic footage to Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archive. His work is also featured in the JVC World Anthology of Music & Dance (Tokyo) , the BBC World Library (London), The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland), and the Experience Music Project (Seattle).
Gabour has primarily been involved with musicians, and bikers, through much of his adult life. His musical fascination is undoubtedly due to the fact that he remains unsuccessful playing music, but in spite of that, doing well taking pictures of it being played by others. In recent years he has become a Grammy-nominated, RIAA-platinum-certified film & video producer/director, working with artists as diverse as Norah Jones, Al Green, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flaming Lips, Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, Ice T, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Queen Latifah, Usher and James Taylor.
He produced and directed Norah Jones' first concert film for Capitol and Blue Note Records, which became a multi-platinum DVD and spent five weeks at #1 in worldwide sales. He wrote, co-produced and directed a documentary on composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard, for which he received a Grammy nomination, as a finalist with films from Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Gorillaz, and Death Cab for Cutie. Gabour's film lost to Springsteen, but Gabour deferred to The Boss in any case. An official selection of a number of prestigious international festivals like Rotterdam and Buenos Aires, the documentary has been made a part of the permanent collection of the American Jazz Museum.
For over thirty years, Gabour has been highly involved in documenting and sharing culture, music, and history, especially of of New Orleans, contributing almost 300 hours of historic footage to Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archive. His work is also featured in the JVC World Anthology of Music & Dance (Tokyo) , the BBC World Library (London), The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland), and the Experience Music Project (Seattle).
