Jazz On A Summer's Day cover art

Jazz On A Summer's Day Details

1958 Certificate Ex
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 338 members

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 .. Read more

Starring Jimmy Giuffre, Thelonious Monk, Henry Grimes, Sonny Stitt
Director Bert Stern, Aram Avakian
Genres Music/Musical

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Jazz On A Summer's Day cover art

Jazz On A Summer's Day

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.

Starring Jimmy Giuffre, Thelonious Monk, Henry Grimes, Sonny Stitt, Sal Salvador, Anita O'Day, George Shearing, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Big Maybelle, Chuck Berry, Chico Hamilton, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Mahalia Jackson
Director Bert Stern, Aram Avakian
Studio SNAPPER MUSIC
Run time DVD: 1 hr 25 mins
Certificate Certificate Ex
Genres Music/Musical
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 10 Sep 2001
Production year: 1958
Format DVD

Jazz On A Summer's Day (1958)

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  • Critics' reviews (4) of Jazz On A Summer's Day

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Considering this is a record of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, it's telling that two of the most arresting sets come from rocker Chuck Berry and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. However, you'll be equally enthralled by the performances of Anita O'Day and such jazz legends as Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk and Dinah Washington. Photographer Bert Stern's direction may be a touch self-serving, and Aram Avakian's editing takes in too many shots of the crowd and the nearby America's Cup trials. But they still manage to capture the relaxed atmosphere of the gig and the evident enjoyment of the artists.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • This documentary record of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival is often hailed as one of the first and most influential... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Jazz On A Summer's Day

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  • 12 out of 12 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Jazz on a Summer's Day

    This atmospheric memento of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival features a line-up that any proper jazz fan would kill to hear: Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, Mahalia Jackson, George Shearing and Dinah Washington, amongst others.

    Given such a stellar constellation it is perhaps surprising that the star that burns longest in the memory is Anita O'Day: especially as she was (according to her autobiography) so stoned out of her head that she couldn't remember a thing about the gig. Yet O'Day - a hugely underrated and innovative singer - belted her way through Sweet Georgia Brown and Tea for Two with stunning rythmic mastery and improvisational aplomb.

    Bert Stern's deceptively leisurely direction is not just about the performers however. The audience also stars, as do their plaid shirts and Jackie O glasses. This was affluent post-war America at play; and thanks to Stern, we can join them.

    Jazz on a Summer's Day's legacy was to establish the gig-as-film genre, much imitated in, for example, Woodstock. But here the added bonus is that the musicians concerned were actually worth filming.

      • Tom Goldsmith from London
      • Posted 11 Feb 2005 13:07

  • Most recent members' review of Jazz On A Summer's Day

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  • Rated - 5 stars

    jazz on a summer's day

    Wonderful and memorable film with it's unbelievable collection of iconic musicians creating marvellous and diverse music. The evocative filming never interferes with the subject.

      • A customer from Boston
      • Posted 28 Oct 2008 18:47

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338 Member ratings
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61
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7

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    • Jazz On A Summer's Day

    • Jazz On A Summer's Day
      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 ...