Featuring: Tubby Hayes, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Dankworth, Charles Mingus, Ray Dempsey, Johnny Scott, Keith Christie, Bert Courtney, Allan Ganley, Barry Morgan, Kenny Napper and Colin Purbrook.
All Night Long (1961) is based upon Shakespeare’s Othello, updated to a contemporary London Jazz club. The film’s director Basil Dearden and producer Michael Relph were approached by American producer Bob Roberts following their success with the ‘social problem’ film Sapphire. Roberts was blacklisted due to the McCarthy hearings, he held the rights to the screenplay written by Nel King and Paul Jarrico (a McCarthy blacklisted writer, working under the name Peter Achilles)..
o add authenticity to film, the producers engaged many of the best jazz musicians in Britain for cameo appearances and to feature on the soundtrack plus Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus who were both touring in Britain at the time. Supervising the music was Philip Green, who had worked with Basil Dearden and Michael Relph on some of their previous films including The League of Gentlemen and Sapphire. (Both available on Classic British Film Music Volume 2). Even the title music from Sapphire was reused on All Night Long (track 3).
According to the original sleeve notes, Philip Green wrote the original themes and the musicians were allowed to a certain degree of improvising. Co writing with Tubby Hayes on The Chase (track 13) and Kenny Napper on Sax Reference (track 12). With Johnny Drankworth composing Fall Guy (track 7), while Johnny Scott wrote Scott Free (track 4) . Dave Brubeck performed his own compositions Its A Raggy Waltz (track 5) and Blue Shadows In The Street (track 6), both from his recently recorded Time Further Out and featured on his 1961 UK tour.
The film was not a box office or critical success, with generally negative reviews from the film critics. Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as “unconvincing and wearying” with “corny jazz jargon spoken in mid-Atlantic accents” and “unconvincing and wearying”.
Although the music critics were more positive, Graham Boatfield in Jazz Journal wrote that it is “…noticable for its intelligent use of jazz music … the music was modern and worthwhile, treated seriously and an integeral part of the story and its treatment”. While Charles Fox in The Gramophone reviewing the album wrote “… frankly it’s something of a relief to be able to listen to the music without the burden of watching the film, even though the attempts by some of our local musicians to look nonchalant on-screen had a fascination all their own .”
The music showcased British modern jazz in early 1960s, ranging from the small groups arrangements to the large jazz orchestras. Noted performances was the excellent flute playing by Johnny Scott on Scott Free (track 4) and Tubby Hayes’ Tenor sax solo on Sax Reference (track 12). Also bass players Jeff Clyne and Kenny Napper were also praised for their playing. While Skin Fever (track 11) showcased the skill of Alan Ganley on the drums, with Patrick McGoohan miming the part in the film.
In his sleeve notes for the original release, Benny Green the jazz musician and broadcaster he wrote that “…the music turns out to be very good jazz indeed”. He also considered if the music should have “an independent life of it own” after the film finishes it run in the cinema. He concluded that “… The answer depends in all cases on the quality of the individual score concerned. It seems quite clear to me that no matter what fate might befall All Night Long … the score to the film deserves to survive as a separate entity. The improvisations are fresh and alive, the scoring imaginative and the compositions interesting in their own right. It may even be that in five years time somebody might refer in conversation to All Night Long without ever having heard of the film at all.”
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