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Song Of The Day: Jimmy Giuffre 3 — Jazz On A (Almost) Summer's Day

smithsonianjazz.org

It's a gorgeous sun-filled day here in Seattle, and I can feel summer coming! The weather put me in mind of one of the greatest jazz documentaries of all time, "Jazz On A Summer's Day." Bert Stern documented the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in a film that has incredible cinematography, amazing music, and no dialog of any kind! If you've never seen it you should drop what you're doing and immediately call it up on Amazon Instant Video!

To entice you, today's SOTD is the first thing you hear when you start up the movie. It's an incredible tune called "The Train And The River" from the Jimmy Giuffre 3, with Giuffre on clarinet and tenor, Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone and Jim Hall on guitar. This trio is a unique and enigmatic part of the jazz canon and explored what they called "blues-based folk jazz," which was centered on group improvisation and communication of a high level.

Imagine sitting on the grass in the sunshine in Newport and listening to this with the wind blowing in your hair and the smell of the sea wafting through. Sounds pretty idyllic, no? C'mon, summer!

As a bonus today, here's another performance from the film featuring the great Anita O'Day:

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Jason Parker is a Seattle-based jazz trumpet player, educator and writer. His band, The Jason Parker Quartet, was hailed by Earshot Jazz as "the next generation of Seattle jazz." Find out more about Jason and his music at jasonparkermusic.com

Jason Parker is a Seattle-based jazz trumpet player, educator and writer. His band, The Jason Parker Quartet, was hailed by Earshot Jazz as "The next generation of Seattle jazz."