Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller: Unknown Silent Footage

Some time ago, I posted some silent footage of Coltrane and Dolphy by the late jazz photographer and artist Burt Goldblatt. In that post I also gave some biographical info about Goldblatt and some examples of his artwork for jazz albums. Here is some more of his footage, thanks to Konrad Nowakowski, a jazz researcher in Vienna.

As shown in a detailed Blakey chronology online, Hubbard, Shorter, and Fuller were the front line of Art’s sextet from about September 1961 until about the end of February 1964. Goldblatt didn’t record the dates or location, but we know that this is from N.Y.C., so it must be from the Village Gate in 1961 or from Birdland in 1961, 2, or 3. (If we could see the pianist and bassist that would help to date it, but they are not visible.)

There is actually an advantage to silent footage like this. In films with sound, the camera tends to move around a lot, but in these films the camera focuses on each player for a long time, giving us a good chance to observe certain details. This is almost 4 minutes long. Here goes—Enjoy it!:

See you again, soon!

All the best,
Lewis