Jazz On A Summer’s Day
(Documentary)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
One of the great, groundbreaking music films, Bert Stein’s
Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959) offers an unforgettable look at the 1958
Newport Jazz Festival. Though it takes
place around the 4th of July, the film is hardly aware of the
holiday, instead keeping the focus on the music, the people, and Newport
itself. Stein had already made a name
for himself as a still photographer, then managed to pull off this classic.
Louis Armstrong, Anita O’Day, Thelonious Monk, Mahalia
Jackson, Dinah Washington, and even Chuck Berry are among the legends that come
alive and are captured so exceptionally well.
Stein manages to also capture the atmosphere of the event, helping to further
its legendary status, which continues to this day. The contrast between rich and poor are striking, more so because
they are shown happening in the same world, with music being a sort of common
ground. The people seen here are out to
have a good time, which seems to be becoming some kind of lost art these days.
The work runs about 90-minutes long and offers some choice
capturings of exceptional musicianship, vocals, and the people who enjoy
them. You also got to love all the
people with their 16mm cameras, capturing the events for themselves. Nobody was going copyright crazy either,
though many of those cameras were only recording the footage silent. The Armstrong sequence has some great
interplay and discussion on stage between himself and those around him. A great among greats, this would not be his
first or last cinematic appearance. It
is one of his most naturalistic, and that is something to see.
The full color, full frame 1.33 X 1 images are well shot,
but the transfer looks a bit dated and analog.
This is especially noticed when comparing some of the restored
Rockumentaries shot in 16mm from Criterion DVD (see our review for Criterion’s Monterey
Pop set elsewhere on this site, or Criterion’s Gimme Shelter, for
comparison). The colors could be a bit
richer, the detail a bit clearer. When
whites turn slightly yellow, you will know its analog, no matter how good it
still can look. Kodak color negative
was used and it looks good, plus several 35mm cameras, including the handy
Eyemo make was employed during the few weeks of shooting.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 is an interesting remix from the
2-microphone magnetic mono the film was double-system recorded in. Columbia Records helped in the audio on this
film and were not only the inventors of the 33 1/3-RPM vinyl record, but
innovators in stereo. This remix
spreads out the sound nicely, though I bet DTS would even be more
impressive. This is not unlike what
Rhino did for their Jazz Casual DVD series (also reviewed elsewhere on
this site), but they only had TV mono to work with, so this is a bit better.
The extras include the A Summer’s Day documentary
that features a montage of stills and footage with Stein’s voice from an
interview, plus extras that you can access by pressing the DVD’s “Enter”
button. The four mini-segments can be
accessed in the menu stand-alone as well.
There is a frame-by-frame section showing Stein’s books of photography,
web links, scene and song selection chapterized right, complete festival
information, and even a bit about the 1958 America’s Cup. These are fine, and must-haves for fans of
Jazz or film.
The notes tell us that 130,000 est. feet of footage was
shot, then cut to 8,000 for the final film, which means there is much footage
left. Stein is considering cutting a
second volume of the film with priceless, never-before-seen footage. I could not think of a better thing to
do. Jazz is one of the greatest music
forms ever and the more Jazz…
the better. Jazz on a
Summer’s Day is a must-see, and likely a must-have, classic.
- Nicholas Sheffo
