Bert Stern's
acclaimed film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival is newly restored for its 60th
Anniversary.
“Jazz on a
Summer's Day” is one of the greatest concert movies ever made, a timeless
record of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, with some of the most stunning images
of live music ever brought to the cinema screen.
Conceived by
stills photographer Bert Stern (Vogue magazine, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn)
and brilliantly filmed over three days in August 1958, “Jazz On A Summer's Day”
provided the template for future concert documentaries such as Monterey and
Woodstock.
Interspersing
footage of the crowd and fashions of late Fifties America, the America's Cup
yacht race with artists live on stage and largely devoid of dialogue, Stern's
fluid form perfectly echoes the jazz vibe tempering a fly-on-the-wall
documentary style with surreal, dreamlike flourishes.
Although the
festival featured a glittering array of jazz giants such as Louis Armstrong,
Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, Dinah Washington, George Shearing, and Gerry
Mulligan, the event encompassed far more. Chuck Berry duck-walked his way to
rock glory, Big Maybelle provided her powerhouse R&B and the magnificent
Mahalia Jackson delivered gospel in a manner that demonstrated what true soul
was all about.
In 1999, the
film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically
significant.”
Bert Stern's
acclaimed film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival is newly restored for its 60th
Anniversary by Richard J Whittaker of FX with DVD authoring by Ray Shulman at I-Sonic
while the soundtrack has been digitally remastered for CD by Peter Reynolds at
Reynolds Mastering and for the first time ever, mastered at half-speed by Barry
Grint at Alchemy Studios on two 33 1/3 rpm audiophile Vinyl LPs.
Released on
Charly Records, the special edition comes housed in a lavish, blue-foil blocked
fully-illustrated 40-page hardback book complete with new, definitive sleeve
notes by Mojo's Fred Dellar, including artist and track-by-track details.
DVD extras
include an interview with Bert Stern, an introduction to “Jazz on a Summer's
Day,” artist biographies and photo gallery.
60TH
ANNIVERSARY EDITION
DVD | CD |
VINYL | BOOK
• Complete
film DVD + bonus
documentary
+ extras
•
Newly-remastered soundtrack
on CD
• 2 x
10-inch LPs mastered
half-speed
on audiophile vinyl
• 40-page
lavishly illustrated
hardback
book
• New liner
notes by Fred Dellar
Release
date: 26th October 2018
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