The Audio Foundation begins a fortnightly film series… over the next few months we will feature music/sound oriented films from a variety of genres.
First up…
David, Moffett and Ornette
..captures alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett as they travel to Paris to record the lush soundtrack to an obscure Belgian film called Who’s Crazy'. The performances in Fontaine’s film, which often take place in front of Who’s Crazy' as it is projected for the trio are nothing short of gorgeous, and interviews and candid footage with the band members reveal their reasoning for taking on what was a majorly controversial way of performing at the time. In particular, the interviews with Coleman that address race, sexuality and poverty are so relevant and alive that any serious student of his music simply has to watch this. The soundtrack to Who’s Crazy' on which Coleman plays alto sax, violin and trumpet, was released in 1966.
and..
Sound''
…a collaboration between highly influential multi-instrumentalist musical madman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and avant-garde sound artist John Cage, explores the very nature of sound and music itself as the piece shifts between the two pioneers. Kirk does his thing. He plays onstage with three saxophones at once, and a flute and a whistle. He hands out whistles to the audience at one point and calls for a participatory “blues in the key of W.” He plays with animals at the zoo. The footage of a performance at Ronnie Scott’s in London is incendiary. Cage, for his part, is interspersed throughout the film reading rhetorical questions in a variety of city locations about what it means to make music. If music is just noise, can anyone do it' What’s the point in making it' “Sounds are just vibrations,” Says Cage, “why didn’t I mention that before' Doesn’t that stir the imagination'”
