Jazz In Film - Jazz Soundtracks And/Or Appearances On Camera By Jazz Artists

[sgcim]

On 3/5/2021 at 11:58 AM, EKE BBB said:

“Jazz on the Screen: A Jazz and Blues Filmography” by David Meeker is the definitive work on this subject. It documents the work of 1,000 major jazz and blues figures in over 14,000 cinema, television and video productions.

Available online at: 

https://www.jazzstudiesonline.org/outside-resource/jazz-screen-jazz-and-blues-filmography-david-meeker

As good as Meeker's book is, he didn't bother to find out who the woman jazz organist was in the Bette Davis movie "Dead Ringer" (1964). It was on today, and I found out on the IMDB, that it was a singer /vocalist/actress/organist named Perry Lee Blackwell. She's featured throughout the movie playing in a duo with drummer Kenny Dennis at the club Bette Davis owns. She plays very well on a few uptempo swingers, and Kenny Davis trades fours with her nicely in one scene.

[Chuck Nessa]

2 hours ago, sgcim said:

As good as Meeker's book is, he didn't bother to find out who the woman jazz organist was in the Bette Davis movie "Dead Ringer" (1964). It was on today, and I found out on the IMDB, that it was a singer /vocalist/actress/organist named Perry Lee Blackwell. She's featured throughout the movie playing in a duo with drummer Kenny Dennis at the club Bette Davis owns. She plays very well on a few uptempo swingers, and Kenny Davis trades fours with her nicely in one scene.

She is on  this fine recording -

 

[sgcim]

17 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

She is on  this fine recording -

 

17 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

She is on  this fine recording -

 

Wow, I didn't know she played with Stitt. BTW, as you probably know, that blonde on the cover isn't Perry. Perry is a very attractive African-American woman. She and Kenny Dennis were really playing on the scenes in the club. They were in the scene where Bette Davis' landlord tells her she'll have to get rid of the musicians that play in her club, because she's three months behind in her rent. Like a true pro, Perry keeps smiling while she's playing, but Kenny looks a little concerned...

[JSngry]

Fwiw, that is an African-American woman on the cover.

[sgcim]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

Fwiw, that is an African-American woman on the cover.

Maybe, but Perry had black hair. I know Perry Blackwell and you- I mean THAT is not Perry Blackwell!

[JSngry]

I always thought it looked like Dodo Greene.

Oh, btw, women of color also dye their hair and/or use different color wigs, it's not just a white thing.

and believe it or not, people of color can have naturally red hair. Genetics is funny that way.

 

 

[Dan Gould]

Years ago MG told me about a rare-as-hen's-teeth LP, Perri Lee with  ... Clifford Scott? or Curtis Amy?  Never have found it, haven't looked in ages; I do have the Night at count Basie's LP with Eddie Chamblee.

[JSngry]

This one?

Who would that guy be?

 

[Dan Gould]

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

This one?

Who would that guy be?

 

Yeah that's the elusive one. Almost certain MG said its Clifford Scott.

 

[JSngry]

Glasses?

[Dan Gould]

No idea.

[JSngry]

There's YouTube clips, tenor player has a VERY nice phraseology. Like Jug in his lighter moments...I'm thinking Rusty Bryant almost. But that ain't a Rusty Bryant Head on that cover...

[Chuck Nessa]

Bruyninckx says it is Curtis Amy.

[JSngry]

Ok, YouTube is saying Curtis Amy. and drummer Johnny Kirkwood.

I could play this record if I had it. Sure could.

[Dan Gould]

13 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Ok, YouTube is saying Curtis Amy. and drummer Johnny Kirkwood.

I could play this record if I had it. Sure could.

To finally hear some of it is awesome but four tracks only is disappointing. This Too Close for Comfort is great, I love the way he starts mellow then starts to wail. Curtis Amy, y'all!

[sgcim]

I

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

I always thought it looked like Dodo Greene.

Oh, btw, women of color also dye their hair and/or use different color wigs, it's not just a white thing.

and believe it or not, people of color can have naturally red hair. Genetics is funny that way.

 

 

When I used to have Black students with red, blonde, purple, green, orange, white or blue hair, I used to call the Science Dept. head in, and he used to perform experiments on them so I could find out if they were aliens or not. One of my best students did the US road tour of Hamilton. She had orange blonde hair, and I called up the contractor and warned him she might be an alien, but he hired her anyway.

Curtis Amy was mentioned in the Times Sunday in a big article they did on his ex-wife, Merry Clayton, who lost both of her legs up to the knee in a car accident. She's putting out a new album.

[Chuck Nessa]

Duke Ellington "Black and Tan Fantasy" 1929.

[Chuck Nessa]

And John Cassavetes "Shadows" with a dandy Mingus soundtrack seems to be on HBO Max. I saw it in a theater in 1962 and have never forgotten the film. It is a wonderful mess. Hope to see it again this weekend.

 

[optatio]

[optatio]

 

[Teasing the Korean]

Jazz soundtracks are an area of specialization for me.

As much as I like "real" jazz soundtracks, the ones by classically-trained film composers are often very interesting.  It's like they created their own version of third stream jazz.

I have posted some of these in my Twilight Zone Jazz thread.

For example, here is Franz Waxman's Crime in the Streets.

 

As for a favorite jazz score, I may have to choose Johnny Mandel's score for I Want to Live! 

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Teasing the Korean

[optatio]

Dexter Gordon as Rolando in Awakenings. Here on piano at the end of the scene.

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by optatio

[adh1907]

Anyone familiar with “the cry of jazz”, from 1959? I saw a public screening today but I noticed it is on You Tube:

 

Stilted but provocative dialogue for its time. it features some clips of Sun Ra with John Gilmore and the Arkestra running through jazz styles from Dixieland onwards. Plus a futuristic looped section of Sun Ra’s piano. A couple of questions, it claims the music was recorded in Europe, really? And who is the amazing trumpet player with Sun Ra? 
 

Anthony 

London

[Niko]

Quite a bit of info on the Cry of Jazz is found here:

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/sunra.html

No indications of anything being recorded in Europe, and trumpet might be Art Hoyle

[sidewinder]

‘The Cry Of Jazz’  came out on DVD some years back - I have a copy somewhere. Pretty sure it was recorded in Chicago.