The two offered to record just one of the four days of the festival, hoping that all the artists would just accept being recorded after the fact. Fortunately for Wein, Stern, Avakian and entertainment history, all the artists accepted. The talent lineup for this particular day of the festival has to be one of the greatest assembled in its era: Anita O'Day, Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles just to mention a few!
Any footage of these artists on stage would be enough to make this a memorable viewing experience, but the film is also unique for its presentation of the songs. The live performances are intercut with beautiful imagery of Newport's historic Bellevue District and of the thousands of people attending the historic concert. There is even footage of some of Newport's other special events. This additional footage makes the documentary not just a record of the Newport Jazz Festival, but of all popular culture of the period.
However, the stars of the documentary always remain the musical performers, as they should be. As avant-garde photographers, both Stern and Avakian understood the power of the camera, or in this case, the cameras. The use of multiple cameras shooting simultaneously from different angles was groundbreaking for its time and is now the standard for any live performance recording.
While Avakian would go on to direct and edit a number of films, Jazz on a Summer's Day would unfortunately be Stern's only work as a film director before he returned to his first love of portrait photography. The artistic and commercial success of Jazz on a Summer's Day would set the groundwork for other celebrated concert documentaries like Woodstock (1970) and The Last Waltz (1978). All a film and music lover's delight.
By Jack Fields
