Shadow Dancers

Clipped from imdb.com, this is a Plot Summary for Jammin' the Blues

This 1944 Warner Bros. short is a jam session with several outstanding African-American jazz musicians, including Lester Young. Darkly lit and with a mood that matches the music, the film was groundbreaking in its day and was a showcase for then lesser-known musicians and entertainers who would not otherwise have had exposure to a much larger audience...Prominent jazz musicians of the 1940's get together for a rare filming of a jam session. Marie Bryant has a vocal, and dancer Archie Savage does the jitterbug. It is notable that for several cast members, this is their only known appearance in a theatrical film.

The ten-minute film is available here and a five-minute excerpt is available there.


The trumpeter is Harry Edison. (This photograph is also on exhibit in the 2-DIE-4 PHOTO GALLERY.)

The English language needs more superlatives for me to accurately describe Jammin' the Blues. But the plot summary was written by garykmcd and David Glagovsky. The band photo is from Jonathan Stout.