Jazz Night At The Movies With Mark Cantor at Healdsburg Jazz Festival at Raven Performing Arts Theater

Anyone out there old enough to remember a jazz musician named Bob Howard? Born in 1906, he was a successful swing pianist and singer who was the first African American to get a network television series – “The Bob Howard Show” on CBS in 1948. Footage from this show has never been discovered – until now, when Mark Cantor got his hands on it.

Cantor, the world’s foremost jazz film archivist, returns this year to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival with his basket of goodies culled from the rarefied corners of movies, TV, and jukeboxes. Jukeboxes? Yes, because in the 1940s it was possible to find refrigerator-size jukeboxes called Panorams that played motion picture shorts called “Soundies.” Put in your dime and see some Duke Ellington, or maybe the girl group International Sweethearts of Rhythm....

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Anyone out there old enough to remember a jazz musician named Bob Howard? Born in 1906, he was a successful swing pianist and singer who was the first African American to get a network television series – “The Bob Howard Show” on CBS in 1948. Footage from this show has never been discovered – until now, when Mark Cantor got his hands on it.

Cantor, the world’s foremost jazz film archivist, returns this year to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival with his basket of goodies culled from the rarefied corners of movies, TV, and jukeboxes. Jukeboxes? Yes, because in the 1940s it was possible to find refrigerator-size jukeboxes called Panorams that played motion picture shorts called “Soundies.” Put in your dime and see some Duke Ellington, or maybe the girl group International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

For “Jazz Night at the Movies,” Mark will unearth these soundies and much more at the Raven Theater. Among Mark’s offerings will be the only live film performance of Charlie Parker in existence. Sounds impossible, but it ain’t. Expect rare clips of Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, Bill Evans, Sonny Fortune, Dinah Washington, and a whole lot more.

With his archive of over 8,000 film clips, shorts, newsreels and novelty items, Mark provides a priceless window into our history, the part having to do with the country’s greatest contribution to world culture. Grab some popcorn and come on down.

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