Toronto Jazz
Year: 1964
Format: 16mm Black & White
Runtime: 27 min
Director:
Don Owen
Producer:
Roman Kroitor
Cinematographer:
Guy Borremans
Editor:
Don Owen,
Guy Coté
Sound:
Roger Hart,
Ron Alexander
Cast:
Don Francks,
Don Thompson,
Alf Jones,
Michael Snow
Production Company:
National Film Board of Canada
The lively Toronto Jazz (inspired by Owen’s determination to show his Québécois colleagues that Toronto was more than a hopelessly dull backwater), documents the jazz scene in Toronto in the early sixties. Actor and musician Don Francks– part promoter, part hipster, part used-car salesman – serves as Owen’s stand-in/guide. Once again valorizing art as play while paradoxically defending it as work, the film – one of Owen’s first portraits of artists – includes vintage footage of legendary performers like Lenny Breau and Michael Snow.
Music by The Lenny Breau Trio, The Don Thompson Quintet, The Alf Jones Quartet.
By:
Steve Gravestock