Playboy Fest to Offer Rare Jazz Footage

The first-ever Playboy Jazz Film Festival, coming next week to the Laemmle Sunset-5 Theatres in West Hollywood, will feature the world theatrical premiere of “A Great Day of Harlem,” which chronicles the 1958 gathering in New York City of dozens of America’s jazz legends for a magazine photograph, a rarely seen documentary on the immortal Bix Beiderbecke and “Let’s Get Lost,” the definitive and highly intense documentary on the life of trumpeter Chet Baker.

The festival, entitled “Bix to Bird,” will offer classic jazz features, documentaries and short subjects. According to Hugh M. Hefner, the founder of Playboy Magazine and the festival’s executive producer, the festival represents a nationwide search for the best and most historically significant jazz films available through both formal archives and private collections.

“With the Playboy Jazz Film Festival, we will be able to share with jazz fans the cinematic record of the roots of this uniquely American music, from Dixieland to Bebop--the music of the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s,” Hefner said.

The individual presentations will be shown on two separate screens in a variety of formats. Selected short subjects will accompany many of the features.

Highlights of the festival’s feature schedule follow:

TUESDAY, SEPT. 27 3:30 p.m. * “Glenn Miller: America’s Musical Hero”: This documentary traces Miller’s career, from his early days as a Dixieland-style jazz trombonist to his peak years as one of the most popular dance band leaders of all time.

* “Swing Swing Swing”: This 1985 movie is the story of a group of middle-age, middle-class musicians who play for their own entertainment.

6:30 p.m. * “Bird”: Clint Eastwood’s film stars Forest Whitaker in a dark and moody portrait of the great improviser, Charlie Parker.

* “A Great Day in Harlem”: In the fall of 1958, 60 legends of jazz gathered in Harlem to have their group picture taken for an Esquire Magazine feature on jazz. This documentary is the story of that photograph.

* “Jazz Portrait: Joe Williams”: Williams, one of the greatest remaining jazz and blues singers tells his story and performs with Gerald Wiggins, Harry (Sweets) Edison and others.

9:30 p.m. * “Lookout Sister”: This 1948 film, produced for theaters catering to all-black audiences, features Louis Jordan who has been called one of the greatest black musical entertainers ever.

* “Satchmo”: The life of Louis Armstrong, arguably the most influential musician in the history of jazz, is featured in this 1989 documentary.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT, 28 3:30 p.m. * “Celebrating Bird”: Charlie Parker’s complex life and rich musical legacy are examined in this documentary.

* “Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs”: The long and varied life of Carter, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and band leader, is the subject of the documentary.

* “Bix: Ain’t None of Them Played Like Him Yet.” Canadian director Brigitte Berman combines music, image and recollection in a compelling vision of the immortal Bix Beiderbecke.

6:30 p.m. * “Let’s Get Lost”: The life of Chet Baker as told by the filmmaker Bruce Weber. This documentary probably tells us as much about Weber as it does about Baker.

* “Bix: Interpretation of a Legend”: This 1991 feature shares both the tragedy of his short life (Beiderbecke died at the age of 27) and the triumph of his music. This is an uncut version of a rare film that has never been released in the United States.

9:30 p.m. * “Blues Banquet”: Drawing on a wide variety of sources, film archivist Mark Cantor explores the blues through such masters as “Sonny Boy” Williamson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Son House, Big Joe Turner and others.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 29 3:30 p.m.

* “Time Is All You’ve Got”: Brigitte Berman’s Academy Award-winning documentary explores the many facets of Artie Shaw’s life and music.

* “Too Much Harmony”: Newly restored by Hugh M. Hefner, this pre-Hays Code “backstage musical” features Bing Crosby with Bunny Berigan, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and others.

* Selected Short Subjects: Film archivist and preservationist Robert De Flores will introduce a selection of rare short subjects and feature excerpts from the 1930s that display Bing Crosby’s jazz talent.

6:30 p.m.

* “Round Midnight”: Bertrand Tavernier’s 1986 feature film is supposedly drawn from the lives of Bud Powell and Lester Young and features Dexter Gordon in the starring role.

* “Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday”: Holiday’s troubled life, which nevertheless produced music of astounding depth, sensitivity and power, is examined in this 1991 documentary.

9:30 p.m. * “A Duke Named Ellington”: This 1988 documentary is believed by many to be one of the best on Duke Ellington.

* Playboy Jazz Film Festival, Laemmle Sunset-5 Theatres, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Free parking. Festival runs from Sept. 27-29. Films will be screened at 3:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. General admission: $6; seniors, students with ID and children: $4. Special general admission discounts for multiple screenings on the same day . Two screenings: $10; three screenings: $13. For a complete festival schedule, call the Playboy Jazz Festival hotline, (310) 449-4070.