Jazz on a Summer’s Day
Directed by Bert Stern and Aram Avakian
Written by Albert D’Annibale and Arnold Perl
1959/USA
Galaxy Productions/Raven Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

Never play anything the same way twice. — Louis Armstrong

I was in heaven during this, the granddaddy of all the great rock concert documentaries.

The film is set in Newport, Rhode Island on the weekend of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and Americas Cup trials.  Performers are too numerous to mention but include Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Anita O’Day, Gerry Mulligan, Dinah Washington, Chico Hamilton, George Shearing, Thelonious Monk and Chuck Berry.

This is more than a straight-forward video of a concert.  We feel that we are really there on a sunny Saturday afternoon and evening.  While we listen, we see the rapt or distracted concert goers, the sea and the sailboats, and the parties on the margins.  The musicians are all in their prime and are photographed tellingly.  I’m a huge Dinah Washington fan and she was probably my favorite closely followed Mahalia Jackson.  Chuck Berry kind of sticks out like a sore thumb among the jazz performers but made me feel like dancing with his “Sweet Little Sixteen”.  Highly recommended to all music lovers.

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