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Like Forough Farrokhzad and Jean Genet, the Albanian-born Djon Mili belongs to that small group of artists who, when counted officially (theatrical release of a completed film), might have directed only one short film. Yet that short, entitled Jammin' the Blues (1944), remains a touchstone of jazz on film.
Better known as a Life photographer, Mili freed the jazz film from many of its restrictions, elevating the music from a mere side attraction to an art form with its own captivating aesthetic. Recreating the atmosphere of an after-hours jam session, the musicians were handpicked by jazz impresario Norman Granz, and the shoot—Robert Burks’s first job as director of photography—wrapped after just four sessions. The film was released in December 1944, billed alongside Passage to Marseille, and went on to earn an Oscar nomination.
Drawing on Mili’s photographic studies of bodies in motion, each composition radiates energy. When a performer takes a solo, the camera frames it as the center of a spatial arrangement before cutting away in all directions, breaking the space into smaller parts, each adding its own nuance to the music. – EK
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