Starring Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Thelonius Monk, and Chuck Berry
Directed by Bert Stern and Aram Avakian
Music and Lyrics by various
We travel to Newport, Rhode Island for something completely different. The Newport Jazz Festival began in 1954 and was an instant success, attracting more than 13,000 jazz aficionados to the posh New England coastal resort town. Some of the wealthier citizens were opposed to the students and teens who drove in and camped wherever they could find room; others opposed the traffic. The release of this film coupled with the festival's ongoing popularity helped to convert many of the naysayers and showcase some of the greatest jazz and rock performers of the era. How does this love letter to the hot jazz of the late 50's look today? Let's begin at Newport to watch the America's Cup races and find out...
The Story: Jazz, gospel, and Dixieland performers (and one early rock star) strut their stuff in front of an increasingly appreciative audience of music lovers at Newport, Rhode Island. The first half-hour intercuts the footage with sequences from that year's America's Cup yachting race.
The Song and Dance: The performances are key here, along with the chic intimacy of the piece. The early goings give us a good sense of Newport and its glowing docks and beaches, including the Yale Quartet riding around in an old jalopy, playing Dixieland music for folks on the road. The many close-ups of not only singers, but also the youthful and diverse dancers and hipsters for the night shows give us a sense of how intense this music is for fans and musicians alike. There's some wonderful color shots early in the film, not only of the America's Cup yachts gliding over the cerulean Atlantic Ocean, but of the hot and tired crowd in their short-brimmed straw hats and checked caps as they sweat out the afternoon shows.
Favorite Number: Jimmy Giuffre opens the movie with a startling closeup showing the intensity of his performance to "Train on the River." Thelonious Monk and his trio give us one of his better-known numbers, "Blue Monk." Anita O'Day warbles two standards during the day sequences, "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Tea for Two," while Dinah Washington gives us a more dynamic "All of Me." Chuck Berry takes us into the night segments while really getting down on the early rock hit "Sweet Little Sixteen." Bold, brassy Big Maybelle really throws her weight into her amazing "I Ain't Mad at You." Louis Armstrong's best number is his first, the "Tiger Rag." Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson brings in the morning and ends the festival with "The Lord's Prayer."
What I Don't Like: Not everyone will appreciate Stern's cutting between the show and the yachting sequences in the first half of the film. Many would probably prefer he focused entirely on the show, and not on boats in the harbor. I also wish he'd maybe included fewer shots of the reactions of the audience and more of the actual singers, especially on Berry and Armstrong's numbers.
The Big Finale: A wonderful snapshot of a time and place when jazz was at a turning point; a must-see if you're an aficionado of jazz, gospel, early rock, or any of the musicians.
Home Media: Beautifully restored for DVD in 2009, it's now easy to find in all formats.
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