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Bert Stern's impeccably filmed concert documentary, the first of its kind, captures the 1958 Newport Jazz festival in all its glory, featuring iconic performances by Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington and the great Mahalia Jackson.
A key element of Jazz on a Summer’s Day, which would come to inspire many subsequent concert films, was its focus on the audience. Through crowd cutaways interspersed between the intimate performances, the filmmakers present a time capsule of the US as it edged towards the New Frontier of the Kennedy era. It was this moment – the hope of change – that so many jazz artists had been pushing towards.
The resulting combination of performance and observation makes Jazz on a Summer’s Day a joy to immerse into, and one of the greatest ever concert documentaries.
