Jazz as film
Roger Tilton’s documentary Jazz Dance (1954)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.20128Keywords:
jazz, jazz dance, music documentary, direct cinema, audiovisual interplayAbstract
In the history of documenting music, Roger Tilton’s film Jazz Dance (1954) is an outstanding experimental approach to early direct cinema. By using a novel, genuinely audio-visual, non-staged, multi-angled approach to recording, the film opened up new ways to capture the vibes of the filmed event and thus turn jazz into film. This article seeks to remedy the lack of academic engagement with Jazz Dance by outlining its status as a seminal example for early direct cinema as well as documenting jazz and jazz dance. To that end, the means and techniques chosen by Tilton and his collaborators to convey the impression and vibe of jazz as well as the aesthetic approach to the combination of jazz dance and music in the film will be analysed. Furthermore, Jazz Dance will be discussed and positioned within in the larger field of documentary films that bring together jazz music and dance.
References
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Filmography
Bland, Edward O., dir. 1959. The Cry of Jazz. USA, 34 min. Open Culture, https://www.openculture.com/2014/10/the-cry-of-jazz.html.
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Mili, Gjon, dir. 1944. Jammin’ the Blues. USA, 10 min.
Reisz, Karel, and Tony Richardson, dir. 1956. Momma Don’t Allow. UK, 22 min. British Film Institute, https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-momma-dont-allow-1956-online.
Stern, Bert, dir. 1959. Jazz on a Summer’s Day. USA, 1 h 25 min. Vimeo, uploaded by David, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE5ExjDIzIQ.
Tilton, Roger, dir. 1954. Jazz Dance. USA, 20 min. DVD 2004, Rhapsody Film Collection by Bruce Ricker. Barcelona: Efor Films.
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Wintonick, Peter, dir. 1999. Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment. Canada, 1 h 42 min. National Film Board of Canada, https://www.nfb.ca/film/cinema_verite_defining_the_moment/.
