Musical Gems Galore in Evening of Classic Clips

Mark Cantor’s annual jazz film nights have always been among the most consistently rewarding aspects of the annual Playboy Jazz Festival events. A dedicated archivist, he is also an entertaining host, providing detailed information as well as insightful, often humorous anecdotes about the many film clips he presents.

On Thursday night at the Bing Theater in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this year’s program was no exception. A full-house crowd was afforded, via six individual sets, the opportunity to see and hear everything from the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Louis Armstrong to Django Reinhardt and Chet Baker.

Cantor introduced each set, organizing the clips into a variety of groups encompassing such concepts as stylistic coexistence, the overlapping of styles from era to era, a survey of different jazz trumpeters and a collection of special requests.

There were plenty of highlights: a Coleman Hawkins/Charlie Parker performance; Clifford Brown appearing on the “Soupy Sales Show”; the Woody Herman band romping through “Your Father’s Mustache”; marvelous blues from Joe Williams with the Count Basie band; an extremely rare segment of Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and the Hot Club of France; and a brief look at the inimitable jazz violinist Stuff Smith.

There were oddities, as well: a Benny Carter/Earl Hines clip originally printed in reverse, displaying Carter as a left-handed alto saxophonist; the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Ben Webster trying, but not quite succeeding, to match their playing to a previously recorded version of “Cottontail”--a problem also affecting the Hawkins/Parker clip; and several segments of wildly virtuosic jitterbugging and tap dancing.

But the most fascinating aspect may have been the chance that only film can provide to see players close-up via intimate visual corollaries to their music--and with some extraordinary results. It’s well known that Reinhardt lost the use of two fingers of his left hand in a childhood accident. But seeing the way in which he managed without them was something else, the vision of a remarkable artist overcoming a seemingly impossible handicap.

So too was it compelling to see and hear the way Wes Montgomery executed the most complex lines by plucking the string with only the thumb on his right hand. Equally gripping: the close-ups revealing the intense focus in the faces of Dexter Gordon, Baker, Smith, Brown and others while they were captivated by the improvisational process.

Cantor’s collection is an extraordinary treasure trove, one that reaches well beyond the material he presented in this performance. In a just world, it would be available to jazz fans on a frequent and regular basis.