Directed by Ebba Jahn • 1985 • West Germany
Starring John Zorn, David S. Ware, Rashied Ali
This essential document of New York’s avant-garde jazz scene in the 1980s is packed with thrilling performances by boundary-pushing musicians like Charles Gayle, William Parker, John Zorn, and Wayne Horvitz, as well as enlightening interviews that contextualize the scene and its place within the history of American race and music. Capturing the ecstatic freedom of improvisation, RISING TONES CROSS is an exhilarating tribute to the spirit of the avant-garde and to the unique combination of grit and creative energy that made New York City the epicenter of jazz.
Directed by Jake Meginsky with Neil Young • 2018 • United States
Starring Milford Graves
This portrait of renowned percussionist and founding pioneer of avant-garde jazz Milford Graves finds him exploring his kaleidoscopic creativity and relentless curiosity. The film draws the viewer through th...
Directed by Tom Surgal • 2021 • United States
Starring John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra
Although the free-jazz movement of the 1960s and ’70s was met with heated controversy, its pioneers—brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane—are toda...
Directed by Trevor Tweeten • 2021 • United States
Sound and image meet in a mesmerizing, multisensory experience in this journey through Ethiopian American artist Julie Mehretu’s expansive painting “Congress,” which sets the artwork to the acclaimed album “Promises,” a collaboration between elec...
