Here’s a link to the “Battle Royal” scene from “Paris Blues” (1961). Louis Armstrong raises the roof of a subterranean jazz bar with Paul Newman and the late Sidney Poitier.
Duke Ellington was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of “Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture,” but to no one’s surprise, lost to Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, and Irwin Kostal for “West Side Story.” Poitier’s onscreen saxophone playing was recorded by Paul Gonsalves. Newman’s trombone part was recorded by Murray McEachern.
The film contrasts American racism of the era with Paris’ comparative acceptance of Black people. “Here in Paris, I’m Eddie Cook, musician – period,” observes Poitier’s character, “not Eddie Cook, negro musician.”
However, the interracial romance of Harold Flender’s 1957 novel was an extra mile United Artists was unwilling to go. Instead, the film version takes a more conservative route of pairing Poitier with Diahann Carroll. Poitier, disappointed with the change, later remarked that “cold feet… took the spark out of it.”