Follow TV Tropes

Following

History Film / JamminTheBlues

Go To

OR

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

Compare 1960 feature film ''Film/JazzOnASummersDay'', a concert film documenting the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Drummer Jo Jones is in both films.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


''Jammin' the Blues'' is a 1944 ShortFilm produced by Creator/WarnerBros, directed by Gjon Mili.

It is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, namely, a blues/jazz jam session that was recorded on film. A group of musicians perform three songs: "Midnight Symphony", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", and the improvisational "Jammin' the Blues". ''Jammin' the Blues'' is noteworthy for its AllStarCast of 1940s jazz musicians. Performers playing the session include saxophonist Lester Young, Harry Edison on trumpet, Marlowe Morris on piano, and many others.

to:

''Jammin' the Blues'' is a 1944 ShortFilm produced by Creator/WarnerBros, directed by Gjon Mili.

Mili. It is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, namely, a blues/jazz jam session that was recorded on film. A group of musicians perform three songs: "Midnight Symphony", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", and the improvisational "Jammin' the Blues".

''Jammin' the Blues'' is noteworthy for its AllStarCast of 1940s jazz musicians. Performers playing the session include saxophonist Lester Young, Harry Edison on trumpet, Marlowe Morris on piano, and many others.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jammin_the_blues.jpg]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

''Jammin' the Blues'' is a 1944 ShortFilm produced by Creator/WarnerBros, directed by Gjon Mili.

It is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, namely, a blues/jazz jam session that was recorded on film. A group of musicians perform three songs: "Midnight Symphony", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", and the improvisational "Jammin' the Blues". ''Jammin' the Blues'' is noteworthy for its AllStarCast of 1940s jazz musicians. Performers playing the session include saxophonist Lester Young, Harry Edison on trumpet, Marlowe Morris on piano, and many others.

----
!!Tropes:

* {{Blackface}}: There was one white musician in the group: guitarist Barney Kessel. He's hidden in the shadows, but when the camera found his hands for a close-up, they're stained with berry juice.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Drummer Jo Jones looks straight at the camera in the very last second of the film, as the performance ends and after TheEnd has already popped up onscreen.
* TheChanteuse: Marie Bryant sings the middle song of the set, "On the Sunny Side of the Street". The first and third pieces are instrumentals.
* {{Chiaroscuro}}: Most of the film is shot dark and shadowy, except for when Marie Bryant shows up to sing "On the Sunny Side of the Street". The set is well-lit when she's on screen.
* ConcertFilm: A filmed jam session.
* ImpracticalMusicalInstrumentSkills: Lester Young was well-known for playing his saxophone at odd, unnatural angles and can be seen doing it less than a minute into this film.
* {{Narrator}}: Someone who isn't listed in the credits is heard at the beginning of the short saying "This is a jam session" and explaining that musicians "quite often get together and play" and that "it could be called a midnight symphony". Then he stays quiet for the rest of the short.
* RuleOfCool: Did Sid Catlett, the first drummer, need to throw his drumstick up in the air, so that second drummer Jo Jones could catch it and start playing the third song without missing a beat? No, he didn't ''need'' to.
* SmokingIsCool: Let's be honest, it looks cool when Lester Young plays his sax with a lit cigarette still in his hand, and all the cigarette smoke drifting around certainly helps set the cool atmosphere.

Top