Newport '58 - Jazz on a Summer's Day

[Teasing the Korean]

I think I've asked this before.

Does the original, unedited footage exist? Any chance of an expanded DVD set?

Edited February 15, 2010 by Teasing the Korean

[RD44]

being pedantic- isn't it '58?

[Teasing the Korean]

Fixed, thanks.

Anyone know if the raw footage exists, and if more performances were filmed than we've seen?

[Joe Bip]

I don't know whether the existing footage still exists, but another question is who currently owns the DVD rights. The existing DVD was from New Yorker Films, which went out of business a year ago. However just a few days ago there was a press release saying they've been acquired by Aladdin Distribution and are going to be back in business as of next month. They seem to have retained the rights to the New Yorker back catalog, and if this still includes Jazz on a Summer's Day, then the question is whether they're going to be interested in going back and releasing improved special editions of things already released on DVD. The old New Yorker never really showed any interest in that kind of thing, and their DVD releases were in fact a slow trickle of things generally disappointing in picture quality etc. (Jazz on a Summer's Day was one of their better-looking releases, I thought.) Of course the newly formed enterprise could mean a break with the past, but I think we'll have to wait and see.

If they no longer have the rights, this may bode well for some other company releasing a special edition. There's also the possibility that a company that releases jazz concerts on DVD could license just the extra footage, if it exists.

Earlier thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=11306

[Teasing the Korean]

I have a version on Charly but it works on USA region players. It is decent quality but nothing like you would expect from, say, Criterion.