Jazz legends caught on film—Parker, Ellington, Fitzgerald, all unfiltered and electric.
Improvisational jazz performance filmed in 1950 by Gjon Mili plus Duke Ellington Trio filmed in July 1966, Count Basie at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1977, Joe Pass 1979, Ella Fitzgerald 1979, and Oscar Peterson at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1977.
Direction
Granz lets the music breathe, no intrusive cuts.
Cinematography
Mili's 1950 footage: shadows, sweat, transcendence.
Editing
Decades colliding—Parker dead, Pass alive, time collapsed.
Director
Norman Granz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gjon Mili pioneered stroboscopic photography; his 1950 jam session footage with Parker and Gillespie was considered lost for decades.
Norman Granz fought segregated venues—this film documents Black artists he refused to let play for segregated audiences.
US
