Jazz on a Summer's Day

Bert Stern’s independent film is a concert movie, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. It’s also a mesmerizing viewing experience. From its opening scene, where light casts a gorgeous palette of colors in the reflecting water, accompanied by the plaintive notes of a trumpet, Jazz on a Summer’s Day is years ahead of its time in its effortless fusion of music and nature. Jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, and others, render gutsy, soulful tunes, as the camera plays over the audience and surrounding townlife. Yachts race in the bay, a young girl stumbles around in high heels pulling a wagon, apartment couples drink beer and dance on the outside deck in the hot summer sun. Jazz aficionados will love this movie–but so will anyone else who wants to see a wonderful portrait painted of the way we were at the end of the 50s. Highly recommended.Also includes: A Summers' Day, a short documentary with Bert Stern. Visually stunning and loaded with hot jazz, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)