Jammin' the Blues

• Marie Bryant
• Red Callender
• Sid Catlett
• Sweets Edison
• Illinois Jacquet
• Jo Jones
• Barney Kessel
• Marlowe Morris
• Archie Savage
• John Simmons
• Lester Young

Jammin 'the Blues is an American jazz music short film from 1944, the musicians of the former jazz scene such as Lester Young, Red Callender, Sweets Edison, Marlowe Morris, Sid Catlett, Jo Jones, John Simmons and Illinois Jacquet shows. In addition, present (but not visible ) is Barney Kessel. The documentation is considered the first Hollywood film that shows the craftsmanship of African-American jazz musicians.

History of film

In 1944, the jazz impresario Norman Granz advised the photographers and filmmakers Gjon Mili in the realization of the musical short film Jammin 'the Blues for Warner Brothers. Granz, who coordinated the film project, this was provided by musicians from the Count Basie Orchestra who were staying in Los Angeles, with musicians such as Marlowe Morris, Red Callender and Barney Kessel together.

First 1944 audio material for the film was recorded because it was not technically possible to record music and image at the same time for the film in the Warner Studios in Burbank in August. While Basie musicians in northern California continued their tours, Granz and Mili selected from the collection of the songs that they wanted to put on film. After the Basie musicians had come to Los Angeles again, created the film footage and Gili them synchronized with the soundtrack.

At the beginning of the film comes from off the voice: "This is a jam session. Quite Often teses great artists gather and play ad lib hot music. It could be called a midnight symphony ". First, the musicians play the two ballads Midnight Symphony, with soloists Lester Young ( with his Pork Pie Hat) and Sweets Edison, and On the Sunny Side of the Street, sung by Marie Bryant, with another solo by Lester Young. It follows the conclusion of the uptempo number Jammin 'the Blues ( Soloists: Jacquet, Edison, boiler and Morris ) in a dance Post by Archie Savage and Marie Bryant is shown.

The dance routine was a compromise between Granz / Gili and the Warner studio bosses, who originally wanted to have " hundreds of Jitterbug dancers " in the film, after which the two filmmakers did not want to get involved. Warner wanted a pure black musicians group; But Granz sat by the white guitarist Barney Kessel; the compromise turned out to be such that its film shooting took place in deep shadow. For the final scene of the Warner studio manager insisted that the boiler fingers were stained with berry juice.

Warner distributed the film to cinemas throughout the United States. Presented for the young Norman Granz the end of December 1944 released film free publicity for his concert series, Jazz at the Philharmonic shows, which he had started in July this year in the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles, and in which most musicians from Jammin 'the Blues occurred.

Mili and Granz worked again in 1950 in the film project together ( improvisation ), which was not fully realized. This Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins were on together.

The film also promoted the career of cinematographer Robert Burks, who should be known from the 1950s with his work for the Alfred Hitchcock films such as North by Northwest and Vertigo.

Awards

Gordon Hollingshead was nominated for the 1945 production for an Oscar in the category Best Short Film. The film was in 1995 as a " culturally, Historically, or aesthetically significant " added to the list of registered in the National Film Registry films.

Reception

Compared to other music films with black musicians, the film experienced an unusually strong response. Even when it appeared in the film was well received by the American magazines such as Life, Time, Ebony and downbeat; for example, reported the magazine Ebony in a four -page article about the fact that now the color limit was exceeded for the first time. But did not succeed him, to produce a stylistic trend in the production of similar musical films in Hollywood. Arthur Knight summarizes the critic voices together; the film was referred to as a "milestone ", as "one of the few honest motion pictures about jazz" ( as Whitney Balliett ) and " the greatest movie to depict jazz musicians in Their natural habitat. "

Arthur Knight represented in his study at Jammin 'the Blues the thesis that the " look of the music " it influencing how listeners that what they hear classify. The critic Josh Kun stopped in front of him to have not pre-occupied with the music of the film, but rather with the " colored social bodies who are playing the musicthat the viewer sees and hears. "

Daniel Eagan restricts that Jammin 'the Blues in contrast to the then-popular Soundies the " pedantic tone of an educational film " engaging, the Jazz wanted to celebrate than high culture. The presentation of the musicians had fallen in the film so that they may glorify this to "mysterious and romantic figures "; as Lester Young will be a film noir figure, enveloped in cigarette smoke. Many jazz musicians have used this role as a template own ( stages ) graph.

According to Krin Gabbard, the film contributed to making Lester Young to a " great jazz icon ." So this was not perceived in the public eye than the typical Happy go -local entertainer, but as a demi - monde artist, who thus did not meet the racist stereotypes about African Americans this time. Although the cinematic portrait of Lester Young's more conventional representations of the black musicians followed as the laughing Jo Jones, with the ending of the film Jammin 'the Blues put the artist as part of the avant-garde hipsters and dar. Here Mili adaptiere expressionist forms of German film from the During the Weimar Republic, which had been embodied in Hollywood by Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Jacques Tourneur of.

Dave Gelly points out how Gili made ​​with special cinematic conventions of the then music film behind that thus should be seen as Lester Young in the opening scene alone in an empty room, but when the camera returns to him, he is sitting in the middle of band.