Cinema at 33⅓ RPM: Movie Themes Interpreted by Jazz Musicians

A slightly different edit of a piece originally published in MUBI Notebook in June 2015. Click on each title for the YouTube links. — EK

Jazz has long demonstrated its capacity to borrow from various, sometimes contradictory sources in order to create something that transcends the original elements. Since the earliest days of jazz, it has been inspired by military and funeral marches; has stylishly interpreted popular songs; and even brought the classical intricacies of Wagner and Bartok into the domain of swinging brasses and reeds. This multiculturalism and eclecticism of jazz makes it akin to cinema which, in turn, has transformed pop culture motifs into something close to the sublime and mixed ‘high’ and ‘low’ artistic gestures to remarkable effect.

In the history of jazz, the evolution from ragtime or traditional tunes, to discovering the treasure trove of Broadway songs was fast and smooth. As for American cinema, the emergence of ‘talkies’ meant rediscovering Broadway, its stars and directors, and above all its musicals and their songs. In the 1930s, jazz became cinema's rival in extracting tunes from the American theatre and transforming them into immortal standards. Both film and jazz used popular songs as a structuring framework, around which band leaders, musicians, directors and choreographers could develop more sophisticated and occasionally daring ideas.

Just as the emergence of television began to make itself felt at picture houses across the States, where declining attendance figures reflected a shift in the culture, jazz experienced a similar deadlock which contributed to the decline of the big bands. The effects of the war for returning Americans overseas, and the new possibilities for enjoying entertainment in the home gave rise to very different strategies of survival: The film studios began to produce more sumptuous, glossy and costlier motion pictures to overshadow television, while jazz bands were downsized, becoming more intimate – or “indie”, if you like. Instead of big bands, modest outfits of three to six musicians was jazz’s answer to the times. In this respect, one might find the origins of John Cassavetes and 1960s independent cinema not only in Hollywood, but in the Coleman Hawkins Quartet.

Film review: Everybody Digs Bill Evans

 

Three Suicides and an Album

By Ehsan Khoshbakht

Synopsis: 

At the height of his fame, tragedy strikes when jazz pianist Bill Evans loses his bassist, Scott LaFaro, in a car accident. Already battered by drug addiction, the devastated Evans seeks refuge with his family, struggling to piece both his life and himself back together.

Remembering Tubby Hayes

Tubby Hayes is the best jazzman I have known from England. His fiery style is a unique combination of John Coltrane (tenor), Yusef Lateef and James Moody (flute), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), and many other American musicians he always admired. But he was able to mix all these different roots and influences into one huge sound, full of complex harmonies and a distinctive melodic approach. Like most of his American idols, he had a troubled life, ruined by alcohol and drugs. Finally, just before he reached the fame he truly deserved, a weak heart stopped him from blowing. Let’s go back and see where all these things got started:

London Screening of Two Jazz Doc Gems: Jazz In Exile – "Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe" + "Cecil Taylor à Paris"

Big Ben

Jazz on Screen at the Barbican, Cinema 1, Sun 16 Nov 2025

Jazz In Exile – Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe & Cecil Taylor à Paris + Intro by Ehsan Khoshbakht

This double bill offers two distinct portraits of ground-breaking American jazz musicians living and working in Europe, each navigating cultural displacement in their own unique way.

Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe (1967) offers a lyrical, offstage portrait of a legendary saxophonist in Amsterdam. Ben Webster cooks, films his own life and reflects on the blues. In the film, his music and spirit explored through poetic visuals and intimate moments.

Cecil Taylor à Paris (1968) is a fierce, fast-cut portrait of an avant-garde pianist in Paris, rejecting the European canon and rooting his explosive sound in the Black American experience. The filmmaking mirrors the music’s energy, becoming a bold improvisation of its own.

Together, they reveal what it meant to be a Black jazz artist abroad, displaced not just by geography, but by culture, politics and sound.

Jazz on a Summer's Day Blu-ray Review

Review of the Blu-ray release for Sight & Sound, March-April 2023. – EK

Jazz on a Summer's Day (Bert Stern, 1959)

The annual Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island received its only movie treatment thanks to Bert Stern, a photographer famous for his portraits of female stars and models – which should explain the film's fascination with fashion and the idea of the "cool". Here the attitude of the performer – the magnificent detachment of Thelonious Monk, the movie-star glamour of Anita O'Day – is as important as the sound. Equally instrumental in the direction (though, to his dismay, uncredited) and responsible for editing the film was Aram Avakian, who constructs the rapport between the performers and the festival audience, both captured at graceful ease.

Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life (Fred Waller, 1935)

Duke Ellington receives a telegram reminding him of his forthcoming concert in two weeks’ time—not a terribly long notice for finishing an extended composition that seemingly hasn’t been touched before, but most probably accurate, since Ellington was one of the greatest procrastinators in jazz, often writing right up until the curtain rose.

Jammin' the Blues (Djon Mili, 1944)

Like Forough Farrokhzad and Jean Genet, the Albanian-born Djon Mili belongs to that small group of artists who, when counted officially (theatrical release of a completed film), might have directed only one short film. Yet that short, entitled Jammin' the Blues (1944), remains a touchstone of jazz on film.

The Day Shostakovich Went to a Cannonball Adderley Gig — and Didn’t Get the Music | By Ralph J. Gleason

Early this year a group of U.S. longhair composers, including Ulysses Kaye, a nephew of King Oliver, visited Russia as part of a cultural exchange deal.

This, fall, a group of five Russian composers, headed by Dmitri Shostakovich and including Dmitri Kabalevsky, Tikhon Khrennikov, Konstantin Dankevich and Firket Amirov, visited the United States.

They were flown around the country, and included in their itinerary a three-day visit to the San Francisco area.

At their San Francisco press conference, the Russians were asked what they thought of jazz. It was obvious from their answers that they knew nothing of it (despite the fact that Kaye and his companions reported they were constantly asked about jazz by Soviet composers when they were in Russia). Jazz, to the visiting Russians, seemed to mean nothing more than hotel dance music.

The October Suite (Steve Kuhn & Gary McFarland, 1966) | Original liner notes by Nat Hentoff

So far Steve Kuhn has primarily been heard in two contexts—as a sideman and as leader of a trio. This album, however, focuses on him as solo pianist in settings written specifically for him by Gary McFarland. For Gary the assignment was stimulating because, as he observed, he didn’t have to restrict himself to any particular idiom. Knowing the broad scope of Kuhn’s capacities, Gary felt free to try any approach he wanted in the confidence that Kuhn would respond resourcefully—and with individuality.

Cecil Taylor in Paris (1968)

The brand-new restoration of Cecil Taylor à Paris, courtesy of INA, will be premiered at the 2025 edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato. – EK

“He doesn’t come from my community,” replies avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, hidden deep behind dark glasses, when asked by the interviewer about Stockhausen. The same response follows for questions about Bach and John Cage. In a style characteristic of 1968, the African-American musician, filmed for Cecil Taylor à Paris in an old French palace with oversized chimneys, dismisses European traditions in favour of “across the track” culture – the lived experiences of African-Americans.