One thing is clear after watching this movie Burt Stern may be a good photographer but he's no director or Jazz aficionado. Sure the photography is excellent and there are some beautiful shots but as a documentary of a Jazz Festival it could have been a hell of a lot better. Each performer other than Louis Armstrong is given one or two numbers and then it's on to the next. In addition there are some abysmal cuts, best example being Chuck Berry, we hear him introduced, Sweet Little Sixteen start, and then some non-descript shots of people dancing in silhouettes, some crowd shots and finally Chuck - only what do we get ? The back of Chuck's head for nearly half the song and a cut during the famous duck walk!!. This is typical of the whole movie- shots of seagulls during a performance, too many shots of the audience instead of the performers, a cut away to the America's cup>,some rich kid drinking a coke at a farm house ? This thing is a mess and I'm a huge jazz fan so it's not the music that's the problem.
Review of Jazz on a Summer's Day
