Synopsis
Duke Ellington and Orchestra perform 'C Jam Blues'.
Jam Session
1942 Directed by Josef Berne
Cast
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Genre
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
01 Jan 1942
- Theatrical
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A very valuable musical short which has now been preserved by the National Film Registry, which shows Duke Ellington and his musicians performing The C-Jam Blues.
Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974) was a composer, bandleader and pianist, who influenced the inception of jazz into the popular venacular from the early 20s. Here at the 'Harlem Cats Eatery', with a trio of admiring girls on attendance, his orchestra arrive one by one, settle down, and play. A sign of warning and welcome states "No credit to strangers. Welcome, stranger."
Ray Nance (1913-1976) was a bandleader in his own right, who became Ellington's only violin soloist, with the piece performed here being the best example of his talents.
Rex Stewart…
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I do like that this shows off the band as much as this does, credits and all. It allows the band to each get some attention and I don't think any of the other shorts I've seen thus far did that. It's a nice touch to really spread the attention around.
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I swear i didn't notice the moment when it went from 2 people playing to 10. Damn.
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This is the most popular Soundie on Letterboxd right now, so I don't need to expound on the excellence of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
It appears that the transfer to Blu-ray on the 2023 Kino set is from the same print that the LoC has on YouTube. There's a tad more noise reduction and just slightly-better video quality on the Blu-ray.
It's a shame this one wasn't better preserved, like many of the other stunning examples in the 200-Soundies collection. Currently, there are only 67 Soundies from the set on Letterboxd - I'll try to create more TMDb entries and update my list.
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Like how this jam session goes from two to four then to ten band musicians as people trickle in; and there’s a jazz clarinetist too.
Musicians showcased:
• Duke Ellington on piano
• Ray Nance on violin
• Rex Stewart on cornet
• Ben Webster on saxophone
• Joe Nanton on trombone
• Barney Bigard on clarinet
• Sonny Greer on drumsAbout three musicians didn’t get a solo:
• Junior Raglin on double bass
• Fred Guy on guitar
• couldn’t make out the other jazz trombonist