**
Good evening.
I'm Helen Mirren, and you're watching "Documentary Now!"
season 52.
When discussing jazz musician Rex Logan,
the question most often asked is,
"What could have been?"
A man of immense talent,
Rex spent his life trying to outrun his demons.
In 1999, he stopped running long enough
to be the subject of the now classic documentary,
"Long Gone."
* Long gone
* A ring ar--
Is that the same?
-Chromatical scale. -No?
Well, it's chromatic the first time,
and then the second time descending, it's whole steps.
* Long gone
[Guitar tuning]
[Beeping]
What is that?
[Man speaks indistinctly]
Can someone turn that off?
[Feedback]
Whoa.
[Folk music playing]
[Rhythmic clapping]
**
Baxter: Everyone has a story about Rex Logan.
I remember one time I saw him buy slugs at 3rd and B.
He was parked outside in a big Cadillac,
listening to Chick Corea, "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs,"
with Miroslav Vitous on bass.
Now, he's playing it over and over, and he says to me,
"Man, can you believe the notes these cats are playing?"
Then he threw up, ruined my shoes.
[Laughs]
I would say it's to be happy.
Woman: Are you happy?
That's a mighty big question.
Yes. I would say I'm happy.
I don't know. You tell me.
Man: Describe Rex Logan in three words.
How did you meet Rex?
[Cheers and applause]
[Jazz music playing]
**
* Solar winds
[Cheers and applause]
* Solar winds
Both: * Solar winds
* From the depths of the nebulon *
* Solar winds
Rex, what's the difference
between jazz and regular music?
Well, Googy, I don't know
what you mean by regular music.
I don't think it exists.
Ah, come on, guy. You know what I mean.
I suppose there's color and tone
and feeling, various shapes.
Uh, can somebody get the nu-u-u-rse?
[Laughter]
Meola: The first time I met Rex Logan,
he was passed out facedown in a plate of spaghetti.
It was a February night at some place down on Elizabeth Street.
I had come in with my girlfriend to get warm,
and I looked over, and there he was.
You know, I remember asking the waitress, "Is he dead?"
And she pointed at the little bubbles in the sauce
around his face, so we knew he was still breathing.
Then she put one of those little bendy straws in his mouth
for a snorkel, and I thought, "Watch yourself, Carla.
I mean, there is something about this one."
[Speaking foreign language]
[Laughter]
Drugs.
[Harmonica music playing]
I've known Rexy since we were kids.
We called him Little Rex or White Rex or the Flash
'cause he was quick with the ladies.
When we were 16, maybe 17,
we booked a weekend doing an early set at the Copa.
I mean, this is the biggest gig any of us had ever seen,
and Rex says, "You're gonna have to get a sub for me.
I can't make it."
I said, "All right."
So we're playing that first night,
and the next thing you know, Rex walks in with my mom.
She's his date.
Now, I didn't like that shit, you know?
Can't be messing with my mom.
But Rex liked to tease, you know,
so I just let it go at first.
But then, you know, he started making out with her,
making real hard eye contact with me while he's kissing her.
Well, you know, I'm about to knock his ass out when he says,
"Come on, Julius. Can't you take a joke?"
Well, it went on for another 2, 3 years,
and luckily I can laugh about it now.
No, I can't. No, I can't.
That son of a bitch broke my mama's heart.
**
Sorry. [Speaks native language]
**
Hey. How you doing? How are you?
**
Hey, Greg. Hey. What's going on?
Hey, everybody.
How you doing?
**
[Bells tolling]
Downsworth: A day at long last which many people here
thought they would never see.
Independence for Sárdasovinia,
the one-time Austro-Hungarian backwater
long trapped behind the Iron Curtain,
has never known self-governance until now,
all thanks in no small part to one man, Csaba Mozsar,
and the political opposition movement
he leads and which he calls the Solar Revolution.
One of Sárdasovinia's most powerful poets,
now officially its most powerful man,
the first elected president of a democratic Sárdasovinia.
And while he's almost universally beloved
by his countrymen,
Mozsar cuts an idiosyncratic figure,
known as much for his love of freedom
as for his love of the boundary-pushing guitar jazz
of Rex Logan.
* Solar winds
Sorry. I-I'm all right.
Logan: Can I have someone find my lighter please?
I'm always losing my lighter.
It's got, um, Minnie Mouse on it.
[Lighter clicks]
All right.
Man: Is freedom important to you, Rex?
Yeah, freedom is very important to me.
It's, um, you know, personal liberty.
Freedom, you know, it's -- it's sacrament to me.
That's what I like about the Sárdasovinians is,
they're very freethinkers.
I met a lot of hip cats here.
[Men singing in native language]
[Speaking native language]
[Applause]
All right.
The story with that one is, uh, uh,
I was really sick.
So this girl, Danni,
was supposed to score for me,
and she got some bad scag or something,
and she almost died.
And they thought she was a corpse,
but she didn't really die, per se, but...
Uh-huh.
Oh, stellar... So that's pronounced stellar.
I don't mean to correct you -- -Stellar.
It's just that... Yeah, otherwise,
it sounds like Steeler, like the football team.
Are you just reciting my lyrics to me?
Okay. Yes, that would be correct, yes.
Oh.
I would read your speeches back to you,
but I don't know them.
You look good. I like that.
You know, I'm part Sárdasovinian on my mother's side.
She's Cherokee and, um, Sárdasovinian.
So that's why it feels like home to me here.
You know, when I walk around in the streets,
they feel familiar to me because, genetically,
all the streets are in my brain.
Man: Why did you go with Rex to Sárdasovinia?
Uh, I was pregnant with Rexanne.
I had stopped touring when we had Thad,
but being pregnant,
I just wasn't physically allowed to fly overseas.
That did not stop Rex.
Why do you think Rex decided to stay in Sárdasovinia?
Rex was a typical artist, you know?
I mean, he would leave, go on tour, but he always came back.
And then eventually, he just stayed.
One, two, three, four.
**
[Scattered applause]
Good show, you guys.
I thought the tempos were all pretty good.
Hey, Yatella, you can't play substitutions
underneath the solo, right?
If I'm doing a solo, the whole thing goes out the window,
right, 'cause then there's no root note.
So all these people here, they're looking at me, like,
they look like I'm making a mistake.
You know why you did substitutions during a solo?
No. You don't know why.
You just felt like doing it.
I mean, he knows the solo is coming, right?
You know my solo is coming, right?
So you know when to lay out, right?
It's a disgrace, you know.
And by the way, I don't give a shit.
It's your gig.
You know, I could care less.
You want to go?
Hey, uh, let's buy us one of those lemonades.
I go, "That lemonade,
if you don't want to put ice cubes in it,
that's not lemonade."
You know, if I could do things my own way,
I'd just bring my own ice cubes,
but they're hard to travel with.
Mm-hmm.
And why do you play guitar?
-It's... -Why you choose that?
It chose me.
That's what happened.
* I get along without you very well *
* Of course I do
* Except when soft rains fall *
* And drip from leaves and I recall *
* The thrill of being sheltered in your arms *
* Of course I do
* But I get along without you very well *
**
* Except perhaps in spring
* But I should never think of spring *
* For that would surely break my heart in two *
**
What do you want me to say? Do I want him to see his kids?
Yes, of course I do, but from what I hear,
he can't come back here even if he wants to.
I mean, legally, it's a lot more complicated than that, right?
[Jail door clicking]
* Solar winds
* From the depths of the nebulon *
* Solar winds
[Speaking foreign language]
Man: Did Rex Logan know about the alleged atrocities
being committed by your government?
This is the last song of the night.
Uh, thank you for coming,
and, uh, it's a favorite of mine.
Uh, it's a little slower, and, uh, you're really not
the right kind of audience for this,
but, uh, well, I got limited options right now, so...
Uh, anyway, one, two, three, four.
**
* Long gone
* The ring upon your finger and the rose *
* Long gone
* The way we used to hold each other close *
* I could call or send a cable *
* But I just don't think I'm able *
* All the drinks upon the table are long gone *
Boy: I know that he can't leave Sárdas
and that he can't talk about why.
I know that Mr. Logan was an agent of the American CIA
and that, now that his mission has been terminated,
he must remain in hiding.
If he makes any attempt to return to the U.S.,
they will hurt his family.
Man: What do you know about the Mozsar government?
[Sighs] I only know about jazz, man.
* Long gone
Thanks. Thank you.
Man: Do you miss him?
[Laughs]
Man, I don't know how to answer that.
I do, and I don't, you know?
People always saying,
"Isn't it sad what happened to Rex?"
We all thought he'd be dead by now.
How bad can it be?
One more question, Rex -- When you look back on this,
do you think the experience of making this film
will make you happy?
Yeah.
Of course it'll make me happy.
Walking around Byog, and you filming me
and making me play the guitar
and talk to people I didn't know, perfect.
Those beautiful ladies you hired...
...and filmed it with the camera,
genius.
Let me tell you something, Robert,
you're a beautiful filmmaker.
**