Two rare videos surfaced this week on YouTube. The first is The Art of Performing, taped for television in 1967. There is little about the performance online. The video features Benny Goodman (cl), Clark Terry (tp,flglh), Zoot Sims (ts), Hank Jones (p), Gene Bertoncini (g), Milt Hinton (b) and Ed Shaughnessy (d). Earlier versions of this video are bottle green and largely unwatchable. Quite odd to see these jazz giants treated like children by Goodman and nervously replying to his square questions. A rather silly bebop lesson from Goodman on How High the Moon, during which he plays swing, not bop. I guess in 1967, Goodman meant income and visibility.
The second is a Dutch documentary called Homecoming, focusing on tenor saxophonist Don Byas and his one-time return to New York in 1970. The artist who Byas refers to as his close friend is pianist Jaki Byard. The band he plays with is the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Earlier versions of this film on YouTube have been blurry. Byas was clearly past his prime and would die in 1972. A special thanks to Milan Simich for sending along the link.
Here are superb versions of the two documentaries in a single YouTube clip...
