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JUNE 7-13, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 39 ON TV! All That Jazz SONIA RAO The Washington Post T hose familiar with the work of Damien Chazelle won't be surprised to hear that his latest project centers on a jazz musician. "The Eddy," a miniseries now streaming on Netflix, follows the Oscar- winning director's "Whiplash" and "La La Land" in exploring the role music plays in the life of its main character, and how professional ambition affects his relationships, some loving and others fraught. But unlike those films, which take place in the United States, "The Eddy" follows an American in modern-day Paris: fictional pianist Elliot Udo (André Holland), now a struggling jazz club owner who becomes entangled in a crime plot. The series was a departure for many involved. Chazelle, who directed the first two episodes, had never worked in television. Most of the musicians had never acted. Holland, who only had a bit of piano experience, had to embody someone with a successful career's worth — and believably enough to pay homage to the black American musicians who arrived on the scene decades before his character. "By the time we got on set, everyone was scared of something," Chazelle says. "André was scared of not coming across like a real musician; the musicians were scared of not coming across as real actors. It was going to be a hodgepodge … The whole cast kind of agreed to jump off the cliff together." They leaned on one another, as do their characters. While the band members often fall out of sync in their personal lives, they thrive onstage at Elliot's club, from which the show gets its title. Critics have pointed to the performance scenes as the strongest, showcasing songs written by Glen Ballard, known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's 1995 album, "Jagged Little Pill." Netflix describes the series as a collaboration among Ballard, Chazelle, director Alan Poul and screenwriter Jack Thorne, all of whom are executive producers; as others have noted, marketing materials lack a creator credit. (Chazelle and Poul were joined by Houda Benyamina and Laïla Marrakchi in making up the directing team.) Within the show, Elliot is also a strict bandleader who presides over practices with a meticulous ferocity. He struggles to keep his life intact, dealing with the external pressures of a failing business, an on-and-off relationship with singer Maja (Joanna Kulig) and the sudden death of a close friend. When his daughter Julie (Amandla Stenberg) arrives in Paris, Elliot is forced to look inward and grapple with his persistent sense of grief over losing his son — and with his failure to show up for Julie in the aftermath. "For me, it was just about trying to identify what Elliot is trying to do, and identifying what's in the way of that," Holland says of his acting approach. "The big thing in his way was grief … The shame and guilt that he feels in not having been able to save his child, and then the shame around not having been there for Julie when she needed him. All of his failings have him boxed in." Elliot's band doesn't perform covers, as Ballard wrote enough original music to sustain eight episodes' worth. But their music pays homage to the vibrant culture black Americans in Paris helped create. It's these performances that bring "The Eddy" to life, the camera whirling around the club as real-life musicians Jowee Omicil and Damian Nueva Cortes's fingers dance across saxophone keys and pluck bass strings, respectively, or as Lada Obradovic's drumsticks bounce off the instrument. (Lead singer Kulig, trumpeter Ludovic Louis and keyboardist Randy Kerber make up the rest of the band.) "There was something about stepping behind the camera and looking at these players that felt both endlessly compelling and cathartic," says Chazelle, who pursued jazz drumming in his youth before pivoting to film. "It started with the music, and it dictated the whole aesthetic of the show, really." 'The Eddy' a familiar beat for Chazelle TV debut "The Eddy" star André Holland (right) appears on set with Damien Chazelle, who directed the first two episodes of the Netflix series. (Netflix/Lou Faulon) STREAMING! 'The Eddy' On Netflix