Tuesday 5 January 2010

Paris Blues and more

There are only a handful of films about Jazz and Jazz musicians and one I had heard about and always wanted to see but only had opportunity to experience on Monday evening is Paris Blues with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sydney Poitier, Louis Armstrong playing 1960’s Louis Armstrong and the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

The film has one major issue. The universal and everyday problem which all genuine creative artists face: the overwhelming demands of the art form and the conflicts arising from, wanting a conventional life - a stable adult relationship with one individual, children, parental and grandparental and other family relationships, and living in one home in one place comfortably. Obviously there is a spectrum of abilities and inherited social backgrounds which affect the capacity of the individual artist to survive, and critical and public success can dramatically change social circumstances, but the fundamental issue remains the same. The need to remain an individual and for the work to be the priority and the inevitable conflicts that will arise in terms of the responsibility and duties related to a stable relationship where consciousness can merge and to a family as well as to the community and society in which you live.

At the time when the film was made, and set, in the mid 1950’s I would guess, the second issue covered will have seemed to non whites as of equal or greater significance: the position of black Americans in their own country and in Paris, especially if you were travelling musicians. Paris was regarded within jazz circles as place where black and white musicians could play music, drink and take drugs together as well as having sexual relationships regardless of skin or beliefs. I did not know this at the time from first hand observation although I did have a friend who had been to Paris to hear Sidney Bechet, but I had read the books and magazines available and listened to the rare radio programmes about jazz and jazz musicians. It was well known that many jazz musicians drank heavily and some took drugs, although many in the UK also held conventional jobs, and married and became a parent. Humphrey Lyttleton had been to Eton and always appeared a patrician, George Melly in contrast had been in the services was bisexual, drank, smoked and took drugs and did not care who knew about it, Johnny Dankworth married Cleo Lane and stayed married and played and sang music together for decades.

Jazz musicians also lived varying lives with most in the UK having more than one occupation except for that brief period in the sixties when traditional jazz in the UK became big-time. Most musicians were only full time if they played in an orchestra or swing band and this was true for the USA and many of the musicians from the USA who were allowed to visit and play in the UK in the late fifties received a greater welcome and were provided with better conditions than experienced back home. I had attended concerts where US Musicians had performed ranging from Louis Armstrong and Jack Teargarden to Duke Ellington and the MJO. I also knew the London traditional jazz scene intimately from visiting cellar clubs, and pubs and had worked casually for a short time at a cellar coffee bar in Soho. However I had no personal contact with jazz musicians until I met a piano player who ran a few girls in Soho at a private dinner club at Oxford University.

Now to the film story. Two middle class American young women in their mid twenties one black- Diahann Carroll and one white Joanne Woodward, travel to Paris for two weeks on the same boat train as Louis Armstrong and what appears to be members of the Duke Ellington orchestra. The two women are close enough friends from a small town to share a hotel room together, albeit of the level a good standard middle class hotel. Remembering the period, that these town, one black and one white woman would holiday and share a bedroom was unusual and is Hollywood raising the issue rather than reflecting normalcy.

The two female characters appeared to have little in common with each other they were portrayed by actors one of whom was 30 Joanne and the other 25. They were both married in real life. Joanne to Paul Newman, who was already married with two children but the two then stayed married together with three children in this marriage. He was 35 at the time playing someone aged about 27 or 28, perhaps 30 but no older. Diahann went to marry four times in all. Sidney Poitier with whom she performed in film already was the oldest at 33 looking and behaving as a 33 year old. His first marriage ended a four years after the film and Diahann claimed he had promised marriage to her. In 1976 Poitier married for the second time and this relationship continues. He has six children from the marriages all daughters. The mature experience of the actors in adult relationships is reflected in the performances. They are not teenagers or young adults experimenting with sexual partners are or more interested in compatibility than experience for the sake of experience and difference.

At a Paris railway station white jazz musician Paul Newman bumps into Joanne Woodward while she is waiting for her companion to return from having arranged a taxi, as he is going through the compartment to say hullo to Louis Armstrong who is arriving with his band for a major concert tour. Armstrong is given a reception more akin to the Beetles or Rolling Stones although in fairness he was the best known jazz musician on the planet and may have been greeted in this way on his travels. Joanne becomes interested in Paul as soon as she hears his name called, having heard and liked his music from record and when he invites the two women to visit the club where he is playing, she wants to go and persuades her friend on the first evening and stays until it closes in the early hours. She then invites herself into his bed and only the following morning does she disclose that she is a divorcee with two children living a conventional life in town, sounded like small town America. These two character traits do not appear to go-gether with her subsequent insistence that he moves back to the USA with her.

Her companion quickly sparks with Sidney Poitier Paul’s jazz playing friend who she meets at the door the club when they arrive. From my experience of British clubs jazz musicians did not hang about at the front door where there are vetters, people who decide who goes in and who does not, and you then go to pay box for your ticket. While the club appeared to be more up market than most London ones until the arrival of Ronnie Scott their are too many contrivances for overall credibility.

The sparking is more about black politics than sex and at one level the film aims to portray the lacks is balance and responsible human beings with the whites emotional and irresponsible. The film makers would have gained more respect if they had paired the characters black with white.

From the outset the Diahann character shows herself to be socially aware but wanting to work within the system to change the situation whereas Sydney is comfortable in Paris. Black and white musicians playing in the same band was still the exception although barriers had been broken by Benny Goodman in particular and were being broken more generally although there was still rigid demarcation in the USA in terms of education, travel and places to stay or live and in the work opportunities available. Black and whites had their own social networks even if they worked together and I remember the surprise when a white social worker brought two black friends to a house party in the late sixties at a time when I worked for a London borough where Black West Indians lived on the east side, those from Ireland and Poland in the middle and those from the Indian sub continent in the East in clearly defined communities.

The character of Paul Newman is the creative who wants to become a major composer as well as performer. We know nothing of his background or family or why he came to Paris and stayed. He has an ongoing but casually open relationship with a singer at the club who accepts that he has one night stands with tourists and anyone who takes his fancy as long they do not interfere with his music making. The Poitier character is the non creative who wants just to play music and enjoy life without the hassle about the colour of skin.

In fairness there is no talk of love in the film but the two couples are emotionally and sexually attracted and sexually compatible although this is implied rather than explicit in the chat as visuals were taboo at the time. This is the major flaw of the film because both having established the connection and wanting the relationship to continue beyond the holiday romance, demand that the price is the return of the two men to the USA and to join them in their existing lifestyles. This is Hollywood make believe and which in fairness is in part exploded as Newman opts out after briefly saying he will immediately travel back with Joanne while Poitier commits to follow after he has sorted things out in Paris, leaving the door open to also fail to make the journey once the girl has gone home and things are back to normal at the club.

The reason for the temporary Newman intent is when he is told by a music Impresario that his recently composed work, Paris Blues, shows ability and promise but he needs to study, write and experiment before a work is likely to be performed at the level he is seeking. Paul finds rejection difficult to take as most creatives do, but he digests the response and realises that he will not be content unless she follows his calling. There are touches of Jimmy Porter about the role.

The two women characters are intelligent enough to realise that they would destroy in both men the vary things that have attracted them and in real life had either been really bitten as suggested in the film they would have dropped everything and stayed, knowing that the relationships were unlikely to last.

Given the quality of the actors and the music the film did not disappoint. I was even able to tolerate Satchmo playing the fool as he performed as he believed white media and audiences expected of him although the era has passed of those high pitched voice child like maids. There had been Carmen Jones in which Poitier had stared and Diahann supported with Dorothy Danbridge in the title role.

It was a night for the unexpected. Reading somewhere that Vinnie Jones and Stephanie Beacham were appearing in the new Celebrity Big Brother House I switched on to see the review of the first 24 hours and who else would be on the show. It is a fascinating mix and the producers have excelled themselves in the creation which required all 11 participants to fit into a mini within minutes of assembling, a task which they succeeded. The gathering was a hoot as the young ones had no idea who the old ones were while the young ones were in fact nobodies, but will command most of the attention of the young audience. Vinnie is showing his age casually responding to question about having been a well known footballer, one of the most notorious in his day for hard tackling and fouling, and who has gone to play Vinnie in 50 Hollywood films and now lives in Mulholand Drive. Stephanie is the fish out of water, living as she does a few door away from Vinnie, two ex pats who made it across the pond but whose lives and experiences will have been so different. Stephanie did not know how she would survive sleeping on Acrylic sheets.

The most interesting individual is Heidi Fliess the former International Madam to Internal business men, stars, politicians, Arab sheiks and royals around the world who served 3 years and has refused to name names no doubt knowing she would be eliminated if she ever attempted to do so. She has since moved to Nevada where she was reported to be a relationship with a big player in the legalised ranch brothels, but appears to have settled for running a high class Laundromat and dog care centre among respectable’ businesses. She should be a good foil of the relatively unknown Hollywood Stephen Baldwin actor who became a born again Christian after nine eleven and who has already recited the alcoholics‘ mantra about knowing oneself and ones limitations which Vinnie Jones said he wanted to learn during the month long competition.

Then there are the entertainers of varying levels of ability. DJ Basshunter comes from Sweden and is very tall and handsome and immediately set his cap for Katia real name Ekaterina Ivanova and who at 21 is already the past mistress of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood after a tempestuous affair in which Wood was cautioned for common assault. There is Sisqo 31 US Rap singer from Baltimore whose claim to fame is The Thong Song and 24 year old British Rapper Lady Sovereign - Louise Harman and who pleased guilty to being drunk and disorderly. Nicola T is 27 but behaves like a stupid sixteen year old and whose claim to fame was page 3 for the Sun but has a film appearance and runs an online store where the profits got to Great Ormond Street Hospital. She comes from Croydon and has a child by Crew Athletic Footballer five years her junior. There is another singer whose main claim is notoriety for having been a boyfriend of Katie Price, I know Katie who price and her boyfriends. Aged 30 Danny Bowers is separated from his wife and has a son by another girl friend who is not 12 years old. Alex Reid also known for going out with Katie Price, what does going out mean I want to know! He has been on TV and trained in Martial Arts. He also occasionally Cross Dresses which he says is for publicity and fun. His relationship commenced when Katie split from Peter Andre. So there we have it.

The next list of Myspace friends is from E to J The running total is 339 current and 72 departures.


E


223 Emily Before April 2007

224 Eva Puyelo Before April 2007

225 Emily Dickinson post nov 08

226 E Armonious Before April 2007

227 Elvis Costello post nov 08

228 Eric Fromm Before April 2007 top friend

229 Edward G Robinson autumn 2008

230 Elke accepted January 2008

231 Eric Burden February 2008

232 Eva Pacifico added 2009

233 Eyes of T 2007

234 Ed Walker 2009

235 Erin Before April 2007 accepted

236 Emilie Small added 2009

237 Elkie Brooks post nov 08

238 Eric Fromm number 2 site autumn2008

239 Eden 57 2007

240 Ecoto Carrara added 2009

241 Enid Blyton Before April2007

242 Eddy Waeldo post nov 08

243 Elton John autumn 2008

244 English Arts Chorale autumn 2007

245 Enza Flori added 2009

246 E P Thompson post nov 2008

Even More Before April 2007 departed 53

247 Elsoline post nov 08

248 Executive Producer added 2009

249 Enamorades added 2009

Elena P new friends 2008 not at review 54



F

250 Free Leon Pet added early 2007

251 Fyodor Doesteovesky new 2008

252 Frida Kathlo Before April 2007 top 40

253 Friends of February 2008

254 Father Romero Before April 2007

255 Frederic Fellini Before Nov 2007

256 Frida Before April 2007

257 Francis Bason 2007

258 FQ added 2009

259 Fleming August 2007 accepted

260 Free Planet 2009

261 Flamenco man added 2009

FDT Music South Africa accepted 2008 not at review 55

262 Freda Kathlo added February 2008 third series

263 Fox 2 added 2009

Femina added Before April 2007 not review 56

Fear and July 2007 Accepted not review 57

262 Fabio July 2007 Accepted

Fall Down Before April2007 departed 58
Frenchmen Before April 2007 departed 59
Fashion Accepted January 2008 Gone April 60

263 Faerience Nov Dec 2008

264 Fernando added 2009

265 Film Edit April 2008

266 Fransceco Disa added 2009

267 Fedele Maglianco added 2009

268 Foundation mew 2008 autumn

269 Farid added 2009



G

270 Gypsy Added before April 2007

271 Geof Davis Added before April 2007 Top F

272 Ghost Riders Accepted January 2008

273 Gray Art new autumn 2008

274 Goatrance added 2007

275 Galarie Nygaard added January 2008

276 Gene Hummel added 2009

277 Gerard Leahy accepted Noc 2007

278 George Nardello July 2007 Accepted

279 Gollum new autumn 2008

Girl Messiah autumn 2008 not review 61

280 Gothard Art added February 17 2008

Gaynor Everitt nov dec 2008 62

281 Guiseppi Verdi nov dec 2008

Gayriell L accepted January 2008 62

282 Goethe autumn 2008

283 Goya autumn 2008

284 Glen Lorenzo nov dec 2008

285 Gavreil Upkind added 2009

286 Granny does not download 2009 added

287 Gypsy Jazz festival added 2009

288 Glen David autumn 2008

289 Gypsy Jazz nov dec 2008

290 Genchev Family added 2009

291 Glass and Ticks nov dec 2008

292 Galerie Hotel added 2009


H

293 Henri Matisse January 2008

294 Humphrey Bogart added Before April 2007

295 Howling Wolf added 2009

296 Hidyyuki added 2009

297 Harry accepted before April 2007

Harry Potter July request self del 63

298 Headlight Before April 2007 Accepted

299 Helicopter Before April 2007 Accepted

HSKY Before April 2007 dep 64

300 Homer autumn 2008

301 Healthy Minds added 2009

Harold nov dec 2008 not on review 65

302 Hieronymus Bosch autumn 2008

303 Helen above Hawk

304 Hard Kiss 2008

305 Haasz Art nov dec 2008

306 Henry Rousseau nov dec 2008

307 Honeydew Blossoms added 2009

I

I’m Back July2007 Accepted selfdel 66

308 I’m Curious added May 2007 SP

Ideas Are 2007 dep 67

309 In Zepp Before May 2007


310 Ingmar Bergman added before May 2007 Top

311 Ingmar Bergman autumn addition 2008

312 Irk Dam added 2008

313 Irena added 2007 SP?

314 Its bout to get real added dec 2008

Iris Accept October 2007 not at review 68

Idioz AKA moved to J
.
315 Impact added 2009


J

316 Juda Starr Accepted February 2008/G apr

317 Johnny P Accepted February 2008

318 James Blunt nov dec 2008

319 Johanna Kumin Added 2009

320 James Cagney autumn 2008

321 Janis Joplin autumn 2008

322 Joyce Cooling added 2009

323 James Mabry added 2009

324 Josephine Baker Added before April 2007

325 Jen Gloec added April 2007

326 Jo Wymer added March 2007

316 Josh Friend Accepted before May 2007

317 Jude added August local

318 Jason Val Before August Accepted

319 James John accepted early 2008

320 Joe added 2008 autumn

321 Jehan added 2009

322 Jane Street added June 2007

323 John March Accepted 2007

Jesamiah Nov 2007 accepted not review 69

324 John Huston autumn 2008 added

325 J S Bach autumn added

326 Jacques L nov dec 2008

327 Jeff Heally autumn added

328 Jehanne nov 2007

JFCIS accept departed 70
Jim Hendrix 80 August 71
John Com before April 2008 72

329 Jah Medi added 2009

330 Jacqueline Kennedy autumn 2008

331 Joshua Kadison added 2009

332 Jazz Cocktail added 2009

333 J Pop world added 2009

334 Jason Campbell added 2009

335 Joshua Louis added 2009

336 Just for Kicks added 2009

337 Jose Robato added 2009

338 Joe McBride added 2009

339 Idoiz aka top forty since 2007

Just for you autumn 73

Jenny Top friend accepted 2007 and 2008
Gone again 74

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