``Jazz on a Summer's Day'' A legendary jazz festival captured by an up-and-coming photographer.

Fashion photographer Bert Stern's innovative endeavors

The director of the film was Bert Stern (1929-2013), who was an up-and-coming photographer who worked for magazines such as Vogue in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Newport Jazz Festival is a jazz music festival started in 1954 by George Wayne, a jazz club owner and record label owner.

Introducing the path to film adaptation based on an article written by Daniel Egan on the film site The Film Stage (August 14, 2020 issue): Stern was invited to Festival in support of a music festival. One of them was Elaine Lorillard, wife of Louis Lorillard. Stern apparently wanted to try his hand at filmmaking to further his career.

At first, he thought of filming a love story set against the backdrop of a festival, but he ran into problems with the script and cast, and realized his own lack of ability as a director. Apparently, he decided to film the musicians' performances there.

According to Stern, ``Up until that point, jazz movies had been shot in black and white, had a somber atmosphere, and centered around the darkness of nightclubs.But I wanted to show jazz in the sunlight.''

“Jazz on a Summer's Day” (c)1960-2019 The Bert Stern Trust All Rights Reserved.

Stern himself was not a jazz fan and was only familiar with Chico Hamilton among the artists featured. Therefore, they asked George Avakyan of Columbia Records to be the music director and select the songs, which resulted in a high-quality sound. We used five cameras to shoot the scene, with cameras placed at the feet and on the side of the stage at a distance of 30 feet (approximately 9 meters), and we used a telephoto lens to fill the screen with the camera. .

In addition to music festivals, it also captures scenes from yacht races and the America's Cup, and incorporates footage of yachts and the surface of the ocean. It also includes images of the audience listening to the music. This technique is now commonplace in live movies, but it was novel at the time.

The editor is George Avakyan's younger brother, Aram A. Avakyan (1926-1987). He has experience working as an editor on the CBS documentary series, and is considered to be the unsung genius behind ``Jazz on a Summer's Day.'' Some sources credit him as co-director, but Stern disputes this.

``He certainly had the most experience as a filmmaker, but he wasn't the director; 90% of this film was mine,'' he said before his death.

After completing this film, Stern made a short film about 1960s fashion model Twiggy. He is also a friend of former photographer Stanley Kubrick, and at his request, he created a photo of Sue Lyon in `` Lolita '' (62) wearing heart-shaped glasses. As a photographer, his masterpiece is also known for ``Marilyn Monroe's Last Pose: Bert Stern Photo Book'' (published by Libroport), which Marilyn Monroe left behind just before her death. In 2011, two years before his death, a documentary film was made about him called ``Bert Stern: Original Madman.''

On the other hand, editor Avacan also participated in masterpieces such as `` The Miracle Worker '' (62). He was also in charge of editing Francis Ford Coppola's ``Growing Up'' (1966), and was apparently also in talks to work on `` The Godfather '' (1972), but he withdrew midway through the project. As a director, ``End of the Road'' (1970), starring Stacey Keach, was acclaimed at the Locarno Film Festival, and ``Cop Gangster'' (1973) and `` The New Fashionable Thief '' (1974) were also released in Japan.

``Jazz on a Summer's Day'' is a collaboration between a talented person in the photography world and a cutting-edge editor.

Variety of songs ① - Thelonious Monk's piano, Anita O'Dea's singing voice