See, hear the jazz greats on film at New West screening
Louis Armstrong. Cab Calloway. Ella Fitzgerald.
The American icons came out with great jazz standards in the early 20th century.
But their performances were also often captured for the silver screen in Hollywood flicks.
Cab Calloway in Hi De Ho.
On Thursday, May 7, film scholar and critic, and educator, Michael van den Bos will be back at Eighth and Eight Creative Spaces for his new — and final — show of the season.
Titled Jazz On A Beam of Light, the curated production is a riff on van den Bos’ pre-Covid series he created for the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF): Reel Jazz.
His new version includes some clips not seen in previous instalments.
“It’s a celebration of jazz and movies, which are two art forms that I love,” he told Freshet News.
Van den Bos will roll scenes spanning from the 1920s to late 50s that feature jazz legends in their prime — sometimes surrounded with their big band orchestras.
He’ll also talk about the rise of jazz from ragtime to the post–war era, when the star (like Frank Sinatra) largely took over the spotlight from the band.
Tommy Dorsey in Du Barry Was a Lady.
In addition, van den Bos will throw in an animated clip of the character Betty Boop from 1932, with a walrus seeming to imitate the vocal and dance style of Calloway.
Jazz made up the soundtrack to many of the earliest movies, he said.
“It was, in its various forms, the most popular and dominant form of popular music and it became the background to many movies.”
Silmara Emde photo of Michael van den Bos,
Van den Bos said Jazz On A Beam Of Light will be a good primer for ticket-holders attending next month’s Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
For tickets at $31 to Jazz On A Beam Of Light on Thursday, May 7, visit the Eighth and Eight Creative Spaces website. The show starts at 7 p.m. at the Massey Theatre (735 Eighth Ave., New Westminster).
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Louis Armstrong
Featured image: Louis Armstrong in Jazz On A Summers Day
