Jammin' the Blues

This short was nominated for an Academy Award and I wish it had won! Basically a filmed jam session between some very talented musicians, including Lester Young and Joe Jones, the music is incredible! Hollywood quite often embraced Jazz (particularly animation, believe it or not) but this is a rare look on film at an improvisational jam. This has been added to the Film Preservation list and deservedly so. TCM runs this as filler periodically and runs it every March sometime for its' "31 Days of Oscar" tribute. From downtown at the buzzer, swish, nothing but net and the shot's so smooth, the net barely moved. Most solidly and highly recommended!!!

I have seen this ten minute short several times on T.C.M.it is a swinging jam session featuring some of the GREATEST jazz musicians that every lived. It has been told that when they filmed this short at the Warner Bro.studio lot that some of the great actors with Warner Bro. such as Humphrey Bogart, Bettie Davis, Edward G. Robinson Etc. stopped what they where doing to hear this jam session through out the day. One damper on this short was the fact that Barney Kessell was filmed silhouetted so that a white musician was not identified playing with black musicians.

Jazz aficionados will treasure this classic short showing some of the best men of jazz just doing their thing. It's like watching a no frills music video today.

The jazz men give us an additional treat in the person of Marie Bryant who sings a classic version of On The Sunny Side Of The Street. I had never heard her sing before, Bryant sounds remarkably like Billie Holliday. That's a compliment folks.

Their instrumental work is tops as well. With the black cinema of its time fed a lot of white stereotypes, this film is to be watched and treasured. No great production values, just a lot of good music.

Each of the major studios cranked out jazzy one-reelers throughout the thirties and forties (with Universal taking the lead). While most looked as cheap on screen as they were to make, Warner Bros. (which abruptly stopped making them in 1946) often distinguished theirs with offbeat camera angles, mirrors and optical effects, thanks to some creative directors like Jean Negulesco. It is fitting that the best of this genre should come from this studio.

What sets "Jammin' The Blues" apart from the rest of the pack is that it more closely resembles an avant-garde experiment than a Hollywood musical. Filmed in July 1944, it transforms an ordinary jam session into a "trippy" dream-escape from war-time troubles, highlighted by the tune of "On The Sunny Side Of The Street". Gjon Mili and cameraman Robert Burkes (later to work with Hitchcock) were allowed plenty of artistic freedom, perhaps because Lester Young was not Glenn Miller and the studio could care less how he and his fellow musicians were presented. The optical printer is put to good use, with multiple images of the same performer appearing at once. (Norman McLaren really milked this process two decades later in "Pas De Deux", while Linwood Dunn's team achieved different effects in "Citizen Kane".) The strong emphasis on silhouettes and lit cigarette smoke was also ahead of its time; in some ways, this predated the psychedelic sixties, but with a distinctly forties film noir style.

Back in the forties, jazz was still very much caught in the shadow of its mothering countries determination that it was "the Devil's music", and so was very often neglected to being heard only in brothels, cheap bars, or if chance would have it, at home on your own record player should you have been so fortunate to have such money combined with a lack of reverence for current social climate. So, while it was becoming common during Cinema's golden age to slap out these jazz/blues musical shorts produced on low budgets and screened for the sake of making any buck the production company could, the experience of going to see this music performed on a giant screen where stars like Bogart and Hepburn would grace nevertheless was a fantastic one. Nowadays of course, jazz is very much regarded as stuffy old-man music that university professors and neurotic Jewish comedians listen to in between Strauss and Brahms. Not only this, but our very own 21st century devil music has hours upon hours of footage devoted to it, live, staged or otherwise—most of which exceeds the budget for Jammin' the Blues by staggering amounts. Why then, when watching this sixty year old relic do I get the impression that most music productions from here on in went down, rather than up- hill? The answer of course lies heavily in taste; many teenagers these days will look at this stuff and laugh before logging into YouTube and watching the latest Chipmunk music video, drooling over the tits, ass and "bling". But then, you have to wonder if said video would ever be considered by the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The answer, in all likelihood, is a blunt and simple no. But, I have to ask, why?

Well, simply put, Jammin' the Blues, although ostensibly a music video in all respects, is a little more than that. It defines an era, and it does so with an artistry that many films of the time were only just discovering—mainly in France. Combining the rhythm and blues of this great jazz band consisting of Lester Young, Red Callender, Harry Edison, Marlowe Morris, Sid Catlett, Barney Kessel (who, being the only white man in the band, had to be casted in shadow as to preserve the nation's delirium that white and black people could not coexist in such a unit), Jo Jones, John Simmons, Illinois Jacquet, Marie Bryant, Archie Savage and Garland Finney, with the stylish film-noir-type cinematography implemented by first-time director Gjon Mili (primarily known for his still photography until this time), Jammin' the Blues not only captures these great musicians at their peak, but also defines a musical and social era, as well as a cinematic one. Opening with a simple shot relaying the titles for the film gradually pulling back to reveal Lester Young's hat just as he takes the lead before divulging in many great shots highlighting each of the players in interesting and complementary angles, Mili achieves something unique and interesting to watch, something that's culturally significant and, well, downright entertaining at the same time. Most importantly however is that it's perhaps one of the most succinct and memorable miniature portraits of the jazz-age (little of which was deemed appropriate for the screen until long after its heyday) known to exist. For that reason amongst a multitude of others, Jammin' the Blues is a rare treat for all music and cinema fans alike, offering ten minutes with Young and Callender and the gang as they tear it up one more time for old time's sake.