Jazz on a Summer's Day
Jazz on a Summer's Day
Inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999, Jazz on a Summer’s Day is widely considered the best jazz concert film ever made. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival in 1959, fashion photographer Bert Stern’s document of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival ushered in a wave of concert films in the late 1960s and into the ’70s, setting their tone of intimacy and establishing a sense of place vital to the immersive experience of any filmed musical event. With electric performances by Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, Chuck Berry, and Louis Armstrong, the summer’s day concludes with a moving set by Mahalia Jackson.
DIRECTED BY: Bert Stern. WITH: Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Gerry Mulligan, Dinah Washington. 1959. 85 min. USA. Color. English. 4K DCP.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
Theater accessibility accommodations available upon request. Learn more about our accessibility initiatives.
Back to Main Series
More in Series
Film Program
Friday, June 23, 2023
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Special guests: Introduction by filmmaker Joseph Patel and producers David Dinerstein and Robert Fyvolent.
Film Program
Saturday, June 24, 202
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music (Director's Cut)
Special guest: Introduction by the film's associate producer Dale Bell.
Film Program
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Amazing Grace
Special guests: Post-screening conversation with producers Alan Elliott and Tirrell D. Whittley and choir members Mary Hall, Esther Mcisaac and Bobby Washington, moderated by Jacqueline Stewart, president and director of the Academy Museum.
Film Program
Friday, August 18, 2023
We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll
Special guest: Conversation with director Penelope Spheeris.
