A quartet of historical clips programs

Jazz musicians were displaying their wares on film long before MTV arrived on the scene, and even before television itself was much more than a science-fiction writer’s fantasy.

Although the music rarely took center stage dramatically -- “Pete Kelly’s Blues,” “Young Man With a Horn” and “‘Round Midnight” are a few exceptions -- jazz players often provided atmospheric backgrounds in movies. In addition, thousands of short subjects featured jazz artists, and television has chronicled an endless variety of live performances.

Keeping track of all this material is a labor of love, and no one has done it better than archivist Mark Cantor. On Thursday at the Bing Theatre at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cantor will present his annual free program of mesmerizing jazz film clips, produced in association with the Playboy Jazz Festival.

The four-part presentation ranges from a brief, 1920s view of trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra to a 1970s film clip of the Thelonious Monk Quartet in action.

Part 1 of the program is titled “Hawk and Beyond,” with tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins’ burly, self-confident improvising as the connecting link in a set of clips highlighted by a 1957 look at the wildly off-center clarinet work of Pee Wee Russell and a 1959 performance revealing the stunning originality of pianist Bud Powell. Part 2 features Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan in a 1962 romp through Horace Silver’s “Come on Home,” as well as a 1960 Newport Jazz Festival appearance by Silver himself.

Part 3 ranges from Whiteman and Tommy Dorsey to Jack Teagarden and Benny Goodman, while Part 4 adds one memorable surprise, along with a string of appearances by alto saxophonists Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Art Pepper, Sonny Stitt and Bud Shank.

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Playboy Jazz Festival, Jazz on Film

Where: Bing Theatre at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

When: Thursday; doors open at 7 p.m., movie at 7:30. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis

Price: Free, but tickets required. Available Thursday at box office.

Contact: (310) 449-4070