Monday, November 24, 2008

Jam Session (1958)

Alright, alright. I know. I have been really lazy as of late with this and it does seem that all I have been doing is just re-directing people to other cool sites. Fair enough. But how can you complain when there are things like this out there:



Seriously. This really blows my mind and is EXACTLY why I love the 'net. Yes folks that is THE legendary Black Hawk night club in San Francisco in 1958. And, yes, that is THE Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Paul Desmond and Joe Morello. And, yes, that is THE Mort Sahl cracking wise. Well, it turns out this is from a 1958 television pilot program. If picked up the show would have traveled around the country spotlighting different clubs and combos. If only, right? According to the comments it was produced by Jay Ward. Wait. Jay Ward? As in 'Rocky & Bullwinkle'? What kind of crazy world is that?

Brubeck is still around (catch him while you can). So is Sahl (I saw him last year at the Monterey Jazz Festival). But the Black Hawk is nothing but a concrete lot surrounded by a chain link fence - one of San Francisco's poorer monuments to it's modern jazz history. I even liked the 222 Club on Hyde if only because it was in the space adjacent to the old club and has some tenuous spiritual connection. But sadly, that is gone too. So as my man Horace used to say way back in the Latin Day...Dig It Diem!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Best of Everything (1959)

The good folks over at IMDB seem to be beta testing a free video viewing service at the moment.  How late to the party was I this time?  I have yet to find the catch, so for the time being, sit back with you laptop and dig into some free films.  First on my list is this technicolor snapshot of life on Madison Avenue in 1959.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Monterey Jazz Festival (1971)

Yeh yeh, I know...I am SEVERELY lagging on new posts. And it ain't gonna get any better as I am heading off for the weekend to Monterey with the missus. So sit back and enjoy this extended clip from Clint Eastwood's 1971 film Play Misty For Me. That's not a stage set, it's the Monterey Fairgrounds and the real Monterey Jazz Festival in all of it's early 1970s glory. First artist is Johnny Otis, while the second is Cannonball Adderley. The festival is still held in the same location every September and the setting is virtually unchanged. Dig it...