Premiering on Los Angeles’ KTLA Channel 5 in 1962, the local television series Frankly Jazz offered viewers powerhouse live performances by some of the best West Coast jazz musicians of the day. The series took up where ABC’s Stars of Jazz series left off in 1958—providing a platform for unadulterated jazz music with innovative camera work to match. Like its esteemed broadcast predecessor Stars of Jazz, viewed today, Frankly Jazz represents an invaluable record of both jazz and television as vital emerging art forms at mid-century. Sign up for free at www.bit.ly/franklyjazzucla.
Due to the extremely positive response to our screening of Frankly Jazz episodes earlier this year, the Archive is pleased to present three more newly preserved episodes of this obscure series. These episodes, transferred from rare 2 inch. videotape masters, showcase the unparalleled musicianship of jazz stars Shelly Manne, Irene Kral, the Curtis Amy Sextet, and Shorty Rogers and his Giants. Academy Award-winning composer and conductor Henry Mancini also appears for an interview with Frankly Jazz’s hipper-than-hip host, noted disc jockey and jazz expert Frank Evans. Please join us for this special screening, introduced by jazz historian and archivist Mark Cantor of Celluloid Improvisations.
Frankly Jazz :: West Coast Jazz 