Jazz On A Summer's Day [1958] (NTSC)

Product Details

Director : Bert Stern, Aram Avakian
Actor : Jimmy Giuffre, Thelonious Monk, Henry Grimes, Sonny Stitt, Sal Salvador
Format : NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0803415900176
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : DVD
Region Code : 0
Release Date : 2001-09-10
Running Time : 85minutes
Studio : Snapper Music
UPC : 803415900176

ASIN : B00005NX0L

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The 1959 Newport Jazz Festival was a true musical watershed, as Jazz on a Summer's Day reveals. This 75-minute film captures an event poised on the cusp of a new era, as the cool jazz of Jimmy Guiffre and the effortless scat of Anita O'Day intermingle with the hard bop of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet and the smouldering fusion overtones of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. There's a crisp contribution from Chuck Berry, a typically feel-good set from Louis Armstrong--including a hilarious duo with Jack Teagarden--and, as evening shades into night, a heartfelt performance from Mahalia Jackson, closing with a melting rendition of "The Lord's Prayer". Bert Stern has assembled all these and more into a satisfying sequence, complete with footage of an enthusiastic and informal audience. Shots of the yachting line-up from the America's Cup round out a blissful and what now seems blissfully naïve occasion.

On the DVD: Colour picture quality has worn well, whereas sound has deteriorated notably at times: Thelonius Monk's quarter-tones could easily be a semitone flat! Even so, it's worth putting up with this to enjoy a tour through music-making whose relaxed spontaneity would be impossible to emulate today. --Richard Whitehouse

Customer Reviews

wow amazeing this is fab and the soundtrack!! (2008-09-04)

my nana went to see the film in the 60s she loved it i love it too wow and the soundtrack both essential buy them both!! you cant go wrong mahalia jackson,thelonious monk,count basie fantastic stuff what you waiting for!!

absolutely marvelous (2008-06-10)

First of all, let me tell you how thrilled I am by this DVD - it has amazing musical moment with, for instance, Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington and Louis Armstrong shining very brightly (although, yes, the Monk number is marred by some mood shots and other interventions...), Satchmo and Teagarden crooning and scatting magnificently... Actually, I don't think I've seen a more beautiful footage of Armstrong's performance; he was still on the top in the 50s and Bert Stern portraits him beautifully, with some fortunatelly stylized stage lighting. And it goes beyond music; check out the glamour of O'Day's attire, the moment very spirited Dinah Washington grabs the battons and joins Terry Gibbs on the vibes, the look on great Jo Jones' face while he supports Chuck Berry or, for that matter, the bizarre clarinet spot on that number - someone said it's Peanuts Hacko (who is too caucasian, as you can see on Armstrong's numbers on some other DVD's), others mention Rudy Rutheford - I don't know how he looked like (I do know he played in Count Basie orchestra back in 40s or something like that, so I guess he might be African American)... I would agree with those who say that cool jazz numbers don't fare here as well as the traditional jazz, blues, gospel, mainstream and some modern ( Thelonious Monk!) numbers, even with the annoying break in the middle of the Sonny Stitt-Sal Salvador performance. The breaks in the performance grow rarer as the film reaches the end, so there is place for true climax and musical as well as cinemathic catharsis in the end. But, from strictly cinematic point of view, I must add that there are some really fine shots; even the notoriously disinterested lady eating ice-cream looks interesting - it probably is a picture of the festival culture in the 50s, as is the attempt to connect it with the entertainment and leisure industry in general.... All in all, this is a unique jazz experience (and an interesting although not perfect film), recommended (or, should I say indispensable) to all serious jazz fans and interested beginners.

a gem of a film (2004-07-29)

The greatest jazz film of all time. 1958 was a turning point in modern music and this film encapsulates the transition between the traditional and the modern. The Newport Jazz festival has been going now for 50 years but at no other festival was such a diversified line up of artists assembled. From Louis Armstrong to Chuck Berry, Anita O'Day to Theolonius Monk, this is a concert to savour. Shot by a fashion photographer and linked with stunning passages featuring the 1958 America's cup, this is more than a concert film. It is a study of 1950's America having a great time on a summer's day. Buy it.

A day not to be missed. (2004-07-08)

I was 16 and in Missouri when this movie was made and when I saw the film, it just told me that there was a great wide world out there and I wanted to get to it fast. I spent years and years trying to find a record of Jazz on a Summers Day, but nothing appeared. Copyright problems I was told. Well, there is no problem now! I can put the DVD on my computer and just listen to the magic of the day or sit and watch. The movie and music capture an America long gone, and I miss that. But at least the DVD gives me that day when the sun shone and the music was HOT.

We Can Never Go Back. (2003-05-20)

The comments of other reviewers are endorsed. What started as a film project became a documentary, a mirror held up to reflect not only a moment in musical time, but also in US middle-class culture.View this DVD and then a video or DVD of Woodstock - just 10 years later but worlds apart.Just as Chuck Berry's appearance at Newport heralded the musical future so his fractured and sometimes inept guitar playing presaged the production values of later generations.The image quality of the main movie is not 100% but, strangely, the same extracts are better during the "Making of ......" section. Almost as if they have been enhanced or taken from a different master.Music varied and good, a very pleasant and nostalgic experience - recommended.Was Anita O'Day the "Queen of Cool"?

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