Mantovani lovers are not going to be wowed by either of these films on experimental music, but serious music lovers will find something of interest here. The lesser of the two films, David, Mofette, & Ornette, is a musical portrait of the Ornette Coleman Trio working on the soundtrack to an apparently forgettable bit of cinematic fluff called Who's Crazy? The film is at its best when interviewing Ornette Coleman and David Izenzon (ex-NBC Symphony Orchestra bass player). -Both men are committed to their music, and have very lucid insights into the musical world of which they were voluntarily on the fringe. The film falters some when the film director "David" (a living cliché of the effeminate director, with cigarette in two fingers parallel to left ear for the'8uration) is on stage giving orders. And his "movie" of painted flower children running from the authorities and playing with sparklers is either a truly awful acid trip or an advertisement for Alka-Selzer (we're not sure which). The second film, Sound ??, is a clever exploration of the nature of music which cuts back and forth between a running commentary by John Cage and musical performances by Roland Kirk. Kirk, a burly, black jazz musician is seen playing three saxophones (at the same time); touring a zoo with his son, and musically imitating the sounds of the animals; and leading a night club audience in a hand whistle concert ("in the key of "W", if you please.") Throughout, John Cage-whose. theatrical piano performances have made him legendary as at least an eccentric, and perhaps a visionary-delivers a running monologue questioning the nature of music and its relation to the more general category of sound. Thought-provoking at first, a little bit of Cage goes a very long way, and toward the end of the film a spate of 60's mystic, rhetoric inspires a passing urge . to reach for the barf bag-before the film mercifully cuts back to Kirk. Neither film will have wide appeal, but serious jazz lovers will find something of interest here, as well as those, who never quite got around to retiring their paisley shirts. Recommended for libraries with large music collections. (Available from: Independent Media, 3921 France Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55416;1-800-328-8322.)
David, Moffette, & Ornette: The Ornette Coleman Trio 1966; Sound??
(1966) 26 m. $29.95. Rhapsody Films. Public performance rights included. Vol. 3, Issue 9
David, Moffette, & Ornette: The Ornette Coleman Trio 1966; Sound??
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