The Sophisticated Audiophile

Jammin’ The Blues is a short film from 1944 that was directed by Albanian born photographer, Gjon Mili. It features jazz musicians of the time getting filmed during a jam session. For some of the musicians, this is the only appearance that exists of them on video.

Upon hearing that the musicians were going to be paid $30 a day, while the dancers were paid $50 a day, the techincal director Norman Granz threatened to remove the musicians off the set if they weren’t paid the same rate as the dancers. Granz had a reputation for his defiant anti-racist stance, a rarity in show business in the 40s. Granz sent a memo to Warner Brothers head honcho Jack Warner demanding equal pay. He got equal pay for the musicians, but it came at a price. Warner Brothers exec Gordon Hollingshead told Granz that he would never work in Hollywood again. After the production of the film, Granz was banned for life from the Warner Brothers studio lot.

It should be noted that Barney Kessel, the guitar player in the jam session is white. However, for the film to be screened in the segregated south, Kessel was cast in the shadows, and was never shown close up, only in profile. His hands were colored with berry juice to conceal his identity as a white man. A white man in a film with a largely black cast would not go over well in the segregated south. A film with a predominantly black cast was groundbreaking in of itself for the time.

The full cast in the jam session are
Lester Young – Tenor Sax
Illinois Jacquet – Tenor Sax
Harry “Sweets” Edison – Trumpet
John Simmons – Bass
Red Callender – Bass
Marlowe Morris – Piano
Big Sid Catlett – Drums
Jo Jones – Drums (for final song)
Barney Kessel – Guitar
Marie Bryant – Vocals & Female Dancer
Archie Savage – Male Dancer

Filed under: bebop, Jazz, Video, Barney Kessel, Gjon Mili, Illinois Jacquet, Jo Jones, Lester Young, Norman Granz, Racism, Red Callender, Segregation