Mingus, Cassavetes, and the Birth of a Jazz Cinema
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jfm.v2i2-4.145Keywords:
John Cassavetes, Charlie Mingus, <i>Shadows</i>, cinematic jazz narrative, jazz cinemaAbstract
In November 1958, John Cassavetes premiered his revolutionary independent film Shadows in a series of midnight screenings at the Paris Theater in New York City. Village Voice critic Jonas Mekas immediately proclaimed it a work of genius, calling it “the most frontier-breaking American feature in at least a decade.” Most audience members, including Cassavetes, hated it.Cassavetes reassembled his cast and crew and shot extensive new footage, modifying old scenes and adding new ones. The final version premiered at Amos Vogel’s legendary Cinema 16 on November 11, 1959, and was an overnight critical sensation.One of the myths that propelled Shadows to instant notoriety was its improvisational origins. It’s considered by many to be the first “true” cinematic jazz narrative, both for its racially charged subject and its unconventional, unscripted making in the streets of Manhattan.4 It’s been further celebrated for an original score by one of the all-time jazz greats, Charles Mingus. However much of the legend is deceptive. Little of Mingus’s music appears in the final film. Actual jazz scenes are conspicuously absent. And recent writingsby Ray Carney, Tom Charity and others have attempted to debunk or clarify much of the improvisation myth.
References
Carney, Ray. 2001. Shadows – BFI screen classics. London: BFI Publishing.
———. 2001. Cassavetes on Cassavetes. London: Faber and Faber.
Case, Brian. 1984. John Cassavettes: Nostalgia in Times Square. The Wire (July).
Cassavetes, John. 1971. Playboy interview. Playboy (July).
Charity, Tom. 2001. John Cassavetes: Lifeworks. London: Omnibus.
Coss, Bill. 1962. A report of a most remarkable event. Down Beat (December 6).
Fine, Marshall. 2005. Accidental genius: How John Cassavetes invented American independent film. New York: Miramax Books.
Giddins, Gary. 1998. Visions of jazz: The first century. Oxford University Press.
———. 2004. Eternal Times Square. In John Cassavetes: Five films. DVD (booklet). Irvington, NY: Criterion Collection.
Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Hentoff, Nat. 1957. Charles Mingus, The Clown (liner notes). Atlantic, SD-1416, 1957; Rhino R2 75590, 1999 reissue.
———. 1959. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Wonderland (liner notes). United Artists, UAS5063, 1959; Blue Note, CDP 7243 8 27325 2 5, 1994 reissue.
Mailer, Norman. 1957. The White Negro. Dissent (Fall).
Marx, Gary. 1967. The white negro and the negro white. Phylon 28, no. 2 (Summer).
Meeker, David. 2007. Jazz on the Screen—A jazz and blues filmography. Washington: Library of Congress.
Mekas, Jonas. 1972. Movie journal: The rise of a new American cinema. New York: Macmillan Co.
Mingus, Charles. 1971. Beneath the underdog. New York: Vintage Books.
———. 1978. Charles Mingus: Developmental changes. Interview by Arnold Jay Smith. Down Beat 45 (January 12).
———. 1991. More than a fake book. New York: Jazz Workshop.
Priestley, Brian. 1982. Mingus: A critical biography. London: Quartet Books.
Rosenbaum, Jonathan. 2004. The shadow of Shadows: First thoughts on the first version. Cinema Scope 18 (Spring).
Santoro, Gene. 2000. Myself when I am real: The life and music of Charles Mingus. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sitney, P. Adams. 1974. Visionary film: The American avant-garde. New York: Oxford University Press.
Vogel, Amos. 1959. The Cinema of improvisation. (Cinema 16 program notes, Nov. 11, 1959). In Cinema 16: Documents toward a history of the film society, ed. Scott McDonald. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
