Bert Stern is primarily a stills and fashion photographer and perhaps best known for the iconic images of a semi nude Marilyn Monroe whom he shot for Vogue in 1962.
However, he was also responsible for directing Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1960), which was filmed during the 1958 Newport Jazz
festival in Rhode Island, USA. Originally the festival was chosen as a backdrop
against which Bert Stern’s own story and script would be set. However, for a
number of reasons (including a missing cat!?) this project never quite got off the
ground and what eventually emerged was a unique and candid portrayal of the jazz artists,
their music, and the ‘in’ crowd attending the jazz festival. One doesn't have to like jazz to appreciate this film - indeed Bert Stern himself knew very little about jazz, apparently, when he decided to shoot the film - but what is apparent is Stern’s eye for a
good shot so it flows from morning to evening to night as
series of stills. However, I watch JoaSD regularly; I think Stern's film captures the essence and energy of jazz,
a certain romanticism and naivety of a period long
gone, and a time when people (well, those who could afford to live in
Rhode Island!) knew how to wear clothes and listen to the best music!
