Shirley Clarke's Jazz + Ornette

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Eye Filmmuseum

7 February Eye is closed

Eye Filmmuseum seen across the river IJ © Marcus Koppen

Eye Filmmuseum, © Marcus Koppen

still from Cloacinae Serge Onnen & Sverre Fredriksen, NL 2017)

poster All That Jazz: Shirley Clarke special

All That Jazz: Giuseppe Doronzo

All That Jazz: Sun Mi Hong & Michael Moore

still from Bridges-Go-Round (Shirley Clarke, US 1958)

Eye on Sound: Bridges Go-Round (1958) (soundwave)

still from The Connection (Shirley Clarke, US 1961)

Eye on Sound: The Connection (1961) (soundwave)

still from The Stroke (Vincent de Boer, NL 2020)

Eye on Sound: The Stroke (2020) (soundwave)

still from Ornette: Made in America (Shirley Clarke, US 1985)

Eye on Sound: Ornette: Made in America (1985) (soundwave)

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Tonight’s All That Jazz film programme is opened by London-based jazz band Ill Considered, featuring regular band member and animator Vincent de Boer. Their unique audio-visual live show 'Liminal Spaces' is a live improvisation in both sound and images, with a special role for the audience.

A regular member of Ill Considered, Utrecht-based artist/animator Vincent de Boer won the Debut Competition Award at the Netherlands Film Festival for his animated film The Stroke, featuring music by Ill Considered, improvised while the musicians were seeing the film for the first time. Alongside a new, unique version of The Stroke, this evening De Boer will create a new animated film, live, in interaction with the music. The band will also play an improvised jazz score accompanying material from the Eye collection. At the band’s own request, they will not be told in advance what the films will be. Next to De Boer, the band will be joined by film-maker Lisa Wormsley tonight to contribute to a live artwork. Ill Considered love to improvise, but this evening the group will go a step further, using interaction with the audience and visual artists to create a ​​unique, one-off work. While the audience influences the band’s playing, the band will improvise their own soundscapes. These will then be recorded in real-time, in the form of a live artwork made by De Boer, and in film by Wormsley. The final product of the improvisation will be a unique musical experience, including an album cover and video directed by the audience, that can only be experienced by those present. About Ill Considered Ill Considered consists of bassist Liran Donin (Led Bib), saxophonist Idris Rahman (Wildflower, Soothsayers, Unknown to Known) and producer/mixer/drummer Emre Ramazanoglu (David Holmes, Leo Abrahams, Noel Gallagher, Steam Down, Theon Cross, Wildflower, Étienne Daho). This wildly energetic group have put out no less than nine studio albums and two live albums since 2017. Combining the dynamism of the British jazz scene with improvised DIY punk energy, the band’s sound is not easy to pigeonhole. Each album features original artwork by visual artist Vincent de Boer.

Ill Considered: Liminal Spaces

Meandering documentary about jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman by New York avantgarde filmmaker Shirley Clarke. Clarke’s free form approach to the film, echoed Coleman’s artistic approach: free, associative and unconventional. Followed by the controversial short film The Cry of Jazz.

At the time, The Connection was praised as a masterpiece and became very influential among filmmakers. However, it hasn’t been screened in cinemas since the early 1980s. Until now that is! This wonderfully restored documentary by groundbreaking, independent filmmaker Shirley Clarke records jazz iconoclast Ornette Coleman’s performances from Fort Worth to Morocco. With contributions from luminaries including William Burroughs, Buckminster Fuller, Yoko Ono and Robert Palmer. Ornette: Made in America is essential for anyone wishing to understand the history of jazz and the fertile creative exchanges of the 1970s and 1980s in the country. It is a portrait of the inner life of an artist-innovator captured using equally novel techniques closely associated to music. The Cry of Jazz
 Afterwards, Eye will screen the controversial film The Cry of Jazz (1958, 34') by Edward Bland that is now viewed as one of the earliest (influential) films in black independent cinema which has led to the film also being referred to as ‘the first hip hop film’. The Cry of Jazz starts with a conversation between jazz lovers and intellectuals about the state of jazz in 1958 and the extent to which the black emancipation movement plays a role in (the appreciation of) jazz. Subsequently, in a number of chapters, live music by Sun Ra is employed to tell the history of jazz.

Ornette: Made in America + The Cry of Jazz

In Shirley Clarke’s groundbreaking debut, a group of junkie jazz musicians wait fort heir next fix. With its restless camerawork, playful Beat dialogue and cool jazz score by Freddie Redd, the film became a seldom-screened milestone in American independent film.

During All That Jazz, Eye will pay particular attention to New York avant-garde film-maker Shirley Clarke (1919-1997) by screening the Ornette Coleman documentary Ornette: Made in America (1985), which proved to be her final film, as well as her groundbreaking debut The Connection. Clarke's oeuvre was massively influenced by jazz.

The Connection is the story of a group of jazz musicians (including actual jazz legends Jackie McLean and Freddie Redd who composed the score) in a messy apartment waiting for their dealer while a young documentary-maker tries to shoot a ‘realistic’ film about them.
At the time, The Connection was praised as a masterpiece and became very influential among filmmakers. However, it hasn’t been screened in cinemas since the early 1980s. Until now, that is!

The Connection

exclusiveScreeningsInEye

A special on Shirley Clarke, with a screening of Ornette: Made in America. Ahead of this, a special ode to Clarke's love of jazz and her refreshing way of working: three jazz musicians play three different jazz scores in the spirit of Clarke to accompany Bridges-Go-Round.

In 1959, New York avant-garde filmmaker Shirley Clarke made the short film Bridges-Go-Round: an urban symphony in which images of the city of New York create an intriguing interplay of lines. Aware of the power of music coupled with images, she created two versions; one with music by jazz legend Teo Macero and one with a radically different, electronic score by Louis &amp; Bebe Barron. Three jazz musicians led by Giuseppe Doronzo will play three different jazz scores in the spirit of Clarke to accompany Bridges-Go-Round, each of them taking the lead for one screening. Doronzo will be flanked by Michael Moore (clarinet) and Sun Mi Hong (percussion). Giuseppe Doronzo will join them for a discussion of Coleman and jazz as film music. Ornette: Made in America The screening of Bridges-Go-Round will be followed by Ornette: Made in America, Clarke's exceptional portrait of the father of free jazz. One exceptional aspect of the film is that Clarke seeks to reflect Coleman’s artistic approach in the form she uses for the film: free, associative and unconventional.

Eye on Art also focuses on experimental work by the new generation of makers and creators Researchlabs and the rich and animated history of the avant-garde film (Masters of the Avantgarde).The programme is not tied to a strict format and ranges from artist’s talks by filming artists, film evenings put together by artists or special programmes to accompany art exhibitions. All editions of Eye on Art are introduced by a talk, a piece of music or a brief performance. In English.

Eye on Art

All That Jazz: Shirley Clarke's Jazz + Ornette

Eye on Sound

All That Jazz

show for: 755849 2022-09-09 21:00:00

with live music by Giuseppe Doronzo, Michael Moore and Sun Mi Hong

Shirley Clarke's Jazz + Ornette

All That Jazz: Shirley Clarke's Jazz + Ornette

A special on Shirley Clarke, with a screening of Ornette: Made in America. Ahead of this, a special ode to Clarke's love of jazz and her refreshing way of working: three jazz musicians play three different jazz scores in the spirit of Clarke to accompany Bridges-Go-Round.

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Ornette: Made in America + The Cry of Jazz

The Connection

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Eye on Art