Like Forough Farrokhzad and Jean Genet, the Albanian born Gjon Mili belongs to a small group of artists, each of whom has directed a single film which has had a lasting impact on cinema history. Better known as a “Life” photographer, Mili freed jazz film from many restricting elements, elevating the music from a side attraction to having its own captivating aesthetic. Recreating the atmosphere of an after-hours jam session, the musicians were handpicked by jazz impresario Norman Granz and the shooting (with Robert Burks in his first DoP job) wrapped after four sessions. The film was released in December 1944, billed alongside Passage to Marseille by Michael Curtiz, and was nominated for an Oscar. Drawing on Mili’s photographic studies of bodies in motion, each composition radiates energy. When each performer takes his or her solo, the camera treats it as the centre of a spatial arrangement before cutting away in all directions, breaking that space into smaller parts, each lending a unique feeling to the music.

Ehsan Khoshbakht