Jazz in Amsterdam

Programme

• Jazz... in Amsterdam (Peter Witsel, NL 1960, 12')

  On the jazz scene around Amsterdam’s Leidseplein square, where young people come to bars such as Lucky Star and Caramella to listen to their favourite music and dance. One young man explains what draws him here.

• Jazz and Poetry (Louis van Gasteren, NL 1964, 14')

  Impression of performance by poet Ted Jones and jazz musicians. In Amsterdam jazz club Sheherazade, a short set by Peter Kuiters Modern Jazzgroup is followed by an introduction by Simon Vinkenoog, in which he announces a new aspect of Sheherazade: the club’s first-ever poetry reading. Black American poet Ted Jones (Beat Generation) reads several poems, with accompaniment from the jazz quartet.

• Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe (Johan van der Keuken, NL 1967, 32')

  Portrait of tenor saxophonist and jazz legend Ben Webster during his two-year stay in Amsterdam. Van der Keuken follows Webster during performances, in cafés and during conversations with his landlady. In his conversations with Van der Keuken, Webster reflects on the past. On the fantastic time when he played in Duke Ellington’s celebrated big band. In this film too, Van der Keuken displays his highly idiosyncratic working method: lots of short visual sequences that probe the subject, surround it, let it go again and then approach it from another angle.