Tubby Hayes was something of a prodigy, working professionally as a tenor sax player from his mid-teens. This documentary, made by a director who knows what he's doing (he also designed the graphics), puts the case that Hayes could have been a giant of modern jazz if (a) he had been born in the US, and (b) if he hadn't died of heroin-induced heart failure at 38. A wide range of authoritative speakers, including Hayes' biographer Simon Spillett, and Hayes' son Richard, explain the musician's brilliance for the benefit of those who are not jazz aficionados, and a huge amount of television and film clips are packed into an hour's run time. They include "Dr Terror's House of Horrors", which introduced "Voodoo", one of Hayes' most popular numbers, and "London in the Raw" featuring Hayes' girlfriend, American jazz singer Joy Marshall, also destined to die young. Originally on a DVD that probably sold only to fans, the film is now more widely available, but is good enough to be on a major TV channel.
