Summary: Filmed in 1958 at the Newport Jazz Festival. Features Chuck Berry - 'Sweet Little Sixteen', Dinah Washington - 'All Of Me', Louis Armstrong - 'Tiger Rag', Thelonius Monk - 'Blue Monk', Anita O'Day - Sweet Georgia Brown' and many more.

This video honoring the Newport Jazz Festival combines footage from the musical event with highlights of the 1958 America's Cup Race. Acclaimed as one of the best jazz films ever made, JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY captures some legendary performances by jazz greats such as Thelonius Monk and Louis Armstrong in a whimsically beautiful manner, transporting the viewer back to that clear day in 1958. Director Bert Stern's camera not only captures the humanity and brilliance of these jazz legends, it also creates an aura of warm nostalgia for that very special era in American history.

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The 1959 Newport Jazz Festival was a true musical watershed, as Jazz on a Summer's Dayreveals. 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

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Biographies Of Artists, CD ROM Catalogue, Documentary
Year:	1958
Release Date:	September 10, 2001
Runtime:	85 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	S D V D 001
Keywords:	Music, Day, Jazz, Various, Artists, Performing, Cd, Arts, Popular, Dvd & Cd, Summer's
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts