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Amazon.co.uk Review
The 1959 Newport Jazz Festival was a true musical watershed, as Jazz on a Summer's Day reveals. 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
DVD Description
DVD Special Features:
Detailed Illustrated Biographies of the film's artists
Charly CD-Rom catalogue
An illuminating documentary providing an insight into the making of the film and the Newport Jazz Festival
PLUS a bonus audio CD of the film soundtrack
NTSC, all regions
English Dolby Surround 5.1
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The greatest jazz film of all time. 1958 was a turning point in modern music and this film encapsulates the transition between the traditional and the modern. The Newport Jazz festival has been going now for 50 years but at no other festival was such a diversified line up of artists assembled. From Louis Armstrong to Chuck Berry, Anita O'Day to Theolonius Monk, this is a concert to savour. Shot by a fashion photographer and linked with stunning passages featuring the 1958 America's cup, this is more than a concert film. It is a study of 1950's America having a great time on a summer's day. Buy it.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I was 16 and in Missouri when this movie was made and when I saw the film, it just told me that there was a great wide world out there and I wanted to get to it fast. I spent years and years trying to find a record of Jazz on a Summers Day, but nothing appeared. Copyright problems I was told. Well, there is no problem now! I can put the DVD on my computer and just listen to the magic of the day or sit and watch. The movie and music capture an America long gone, and I miss that. But at least the DVD gives me that day when the sun shone and the music was HOT.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When I first saw this, more than 10 years ago, I remember being transfixed.
Although the cinematography could be said to now show it's age, it beautifully conveys a feeling of the time. The warmth, brilliance, genius, sense of fun and in retrospect naiveté of a bygone era.
My personal favorite has to be Mahalia Jackson, as there is so little footage of her around.
To sum up though, I would defy anybody to watch this and not come away with some positive feeling that they would wish to keep with them.
Although the cinematography could be said to now show it's age, it beautifully conveys a feeling of the time. The warmth, brilliance, genius, sense of fun and in retrospect naiveté of a bygone era.
My personal favorite has to be Mahalia Jackson, as there is so little footage of her around.
To sum up though, I would defy anybody to watch this and not come away with some positive feeling that they would wish to keep with them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disappiontment
This was another of my VHS films which I wished to upgrade to DVD.
This is the ONLY one with which I have been disappionted. Read more
This is the ONLY one with which I have been disappionted. Read more
Published 6 months ago by The Old Man
Jazz On A Summer's Day
My wife and I saw this film before we were married in 1962 and it gave us a love of jazz which has lasted through the years. Read more
Published 10 months ago by pejayassie
Jazz at its best
I first saw Jazz on a summer's day the year it was produced and the image of Anita O'Day flirting with the microphone, in her wide-brimmed hat, has stayed with me since then. Read more
Published 12 months ago by murisalo
some good - some not so.
This film has excellent moments. Anita O'day takes the highest honours and delivers a tour-de-force. Read more
Published 18 months ago by frodo
Jazz on a Summer's Day
I'm writing this review on behalf of my dad who I bought the DVD for. He's a big jazz fan but was rather disappointed by this film. Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. Goddard
jazz concert.
a well known film showing parts of the concert and the activitys in the surrounding area. the best parts are the sets by Anita O,Day,and Louis Armstrong.. Read more
Published 23 months ago by George F. Griffin
Masterpiece
This is one of the most valuable movies ever made.
NOt just one of the best documentaries or music-docs. Read more
NOt just one of the best documentaries or music-docs. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by Luca Piccirilli
Perfection
In my opinion, this is the perfect movie. The photography is amazing thanks to Bert Stern being a stills man first of all, and a film maker second. Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2008 by K. Walter
wow amazeing this is fab and the soundtrack!!
my nana went to see the film in the 60s she loved it i love it too wow and the soundtrack both essential buy them both!! Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2008 by Mr. S. L. Smith
absolutely marvelous
First of all, let me tell you how thrilled I am by this DVD
- it has amazing musical moment with, for instance, Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington... Read more
- it has amazing musical moment with, for instance, Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2008 by Nikica Gilic
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