Film, Motion Picture

Urban F 991 9037 - 991 9742 F 991 7420 - 991 8210 B 134 9433 - 135 0227

Silent color 16mm film containing footage presumably shot for "Detroit Means Business," of Marquette, Michigan, and of the 1981 Montreux-Detroit International Jazz Festival at the Detroit Plaza Hotel and Hart Plaza.

The film opens with a shot of the Presque Isle Dock in Marquette Michigan. The camera pans along the wooden supports toward the ore chutes. Following a brief shot of a car parked in front of several motorboats on trailers, the camera then moves to the exterior of the The Heritage hotel, also in Marquette, Michigan. The camera zooms back and forth from a wide shot of the building to the Old Marquette Inn Crow's Nest Fish and Chowder House sign beside its entrance.

The film then moves to the Detroit Plaza Hotel in the Renaissance Center, on September 5, 1981 during the 1981 Montreux-Detroit International Jazz Festival. A man in a blue suit introduces jazz trumpet player Marcus Belgrave. Belgrave the performs with the Marcus Belgrave Sextet. In shots of the band both from backstage as well as from the audience, the camera primarily focuses on Belgrave.

Next, English jazz singer Cleo Laine comes out on stage and performs with her band. The footage includes her leaving ahead of her encore, and introducing her band afterward.

Following a brief shot of a room with green walls, the camera then moves outside for daytime footage of the Hart Plaza portion of the 1981 Montreux-Detroit International Jazz Festival. This section begins with a series of shots featuring combinations of crowds, Dodge Fountain, and the Renaissance Center in the background. One such shot captures a freighter passing on the Detroit River beyond the fountain. The camera also films a giant inflatable Stroh's bottle displayed on the lawn to the east of the Pylon.

The camera then moves to the Pyramid Stage area for shots of the "Montreux-Detroit International Jazz Festival" sign at back of this smaller ampitheatre, the big band performing here, and a shot of the festival's saxophone player logo on wall of Ford Auditorium overlooking the stage..

The camera then is repositioned at the foot of the main ampitheatre stage where a man introduces Wndell Harrison with Rebirth. The seven-piece band includes Harrison on saxophone. During the performance, the camera captures the band both from in front of the stage, and from behind the stage.

The camera then moves into the crowd for pans around the ampitheatre, featuring both the Renaissance Center in the background, and the event's sign around the lip of the ampitheatre. The camera also gets close-ups of one of Rebirth's percussionists, woman wearing a MontreuxDetroit shirt.

Next the camera moves to the surface level of Hart Plaza for a shot of another woman in a MontreuxDetroit shirt passing out programs. Following more shots of the crowd and of Dodge Founain with the downtown skyline in the background, the camera moves to the riverfront area of Hart Plaza. Here it pans across people walking and people reclining on the grass. The camera also captures a sailboat passing on detroit river. At the riverfront, front behind a pair of fishing poles, the camera rolls as the Boblo boat STE. CLAIR arrives disembarked and turns around to head downriver.

The reel ends after wide shots of the main ampitheater area, with a new band set up on stage.