Film Footage of Ornette

[Late]

Is the earliest film footage of Ornette from 1974? I can't seem to find anything earlier on the internet.

[JSngry]

There was footage of the Izenzon/Moffett trio (in rehearsal?). Don't remember the source, though.

[Late]

There was footage of the Izenzon/Moffett trio (in rehearsal?). Don't remember the source, though.

D'oh! I have that footage on DVD too.

I guess I was thinking concert footage, ideally of the original quartet, or later trio.

[JSngry]

The original quartet would more likely be some footage shot in a club...might exist (with or without sound), but I've not heard of any.

[Chuck Nessa]

Maybe some film from the Berkshires.

[Rooster_Ties]

Amazing that it took until '74 to catch anything of him, footage-wise, in concert or in a club. I mean, if Bernstein and the like were checking him out in was it '59 and '60, and the stir he caused -- you'd think somebody would have had the sense to try and capture some of that.

Edited April 14, 2012 by Rooster_Ties

[colinmce]

Almost certain there's video of the original quartet, maybe even at the Five Spot, in the Ken Burns. Of course it's a split second and there's no sound ...

I could be wrong but I really do recall this.

[Jazzjet]

Is the earliest film footage of Ornette from 1974? I can't seem to find anything earlier on the internet.

There's footage from 1966 of the trio rehearsing for the French art film 'Who's Crazy'.

[Head Man]

Wasn't Ornette seen playing his Chappaque Suite in a French film? Or maybe it was just a soundtrack.

[John L]

Wasn't Ornette seen playing his Chappaque Suite in a French film? Or maybe it was just a soundtrack.

Neither. The music was eventually rejected for the soundtrack.

[ep1str0phy]

Later than the Izenzon/Moffett trio, by there are clips from the 60's and early 70's in Shirley Clarke's Ornette Coleman: Made In America. It's certainly one of my favorite music films, but one of my great frustrations with the clips is that a shot of the Ornette/Cherry/Redman frontline (with, I believe, Haden/Blackwell) lasts only a handful of seconds and is obscured by a voiceover.

There's also this video from 1972 that has been floating around (there are more clips from the concert scattered throughout the interwebs--I can't find a single continuous performance video, unfortunately):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUknEreFHNg

My sense is that there's plenty of Ornette film footage lying around, the bulk of it in Ornette's vault (along with, likely, the balance of the Town Hall concert, the tape with Ayler, the SOJTC quartet reunion that was recorded in the 70's, and so on). As much as I would like to see Crisis on CD, I admire Ornette for his dogged self-determinism--what other jazz icon has so comprehensive a hold on his back catalog?

[David Ayers]

Wasn't Ornette seen playing his Chappaque Suite in a French film? Or maybe it was just a soundtrack.

Neither. The music was eventually rejected for the soundtrack.

Ornette has a cameo as a character, which I can't find, but is that Benny Carter at 54.00? And who else?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjwJRi9Kj8Y

[Swinging Swede]

Not Benny Carter. I think it is Benny Waters.

[David Ayers]

Not Benny Carter. I think it is Benny Waters.

Spot on - and here is Waters at the very club where this is filmed - La Cigale in PAris

Now who in hell knew about that?

I guess that's Jacques Butler with him

Edited April 14, 2012 by David Ayers

[brownie]

Ornette (with son Denardo) and Charlie Haden in an excerpt of Shirley Clarke's 'Made in America':

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xds2v1_ornette-made-in-america-realeyz-tv_music

[Swinging Swede]

Not Benny Carter. I think it is Benny Waters.

Spot on - and here is Waters at the very club where this is filmed - La Cigale in PAris

But who is the explosive trumpeter? He sounds good and must be someone we know, but I can't come up with any name.

[David Ayers]

Not Benny Carter. I think it is Benny Waters.

Spot on - and here is Waters at the very club where this is filmed - La Cigale in PAris

But who is the explosive trumpeter? He sounds good and must be someone we know, but I can't come up with any name.

That is Jacques Butler. His is the lead name written on the glass window in the first photo I posted - you can also fleetingly see that same window in the movie clip - and that is him with Carter in the second photo I posted.

I didn't know anything about him and only gleaned a little by googling. This was his regular gig (as is evident by the fact his name - over Waters - appears painted on the window.

Maybe Guy knows something about this club and its history?

[David Ayers]

Astoundingly, it seems Butler may still be alive, according to this link - but I have no idea if this is correct:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Music/DateOfBirth/April_29

Edited to add: I started a thread on Butler to ask for more info.

Edited April 15, 2012 by David Ayers

[kh1958]

Brief article discussing the reissue of Ornette: Made in America. Unfortunately, not on DVD. With promotional video.

http://www.dfw.com/2012/08/02/660495/ornette-coleman-documentary-restored.html

Edited August 5, 2012 by kh1958

[colinmce]

I read a few months back that a DVD is on the way, same as The Connection. Do you know this for sure?

[robertoart]

Brief article discussing the reissue of Ornette: Made in America. Unfortunately, not on DVD. With promotional video.

http://www.dfw.com/2012/08/02/660495/ornette-coleman-documentary-restored.html

Fantastic.

It seems from this 'even though it doesn't say', maybe we can look forward to getting a dvd or bluray release soon enough.

I remember seeing this film when I was a young 'harmolodician' And have been wanting to see it again ever since. Even tried a few 'dark corners of cyberspace' when I first learned the internet was my friend. Alas, no joy.

This thread may be a good opportunity to ask 'kh1958 and any others', what was the Caravan Of Dreams story about.

The appearance of the label (and the Ornette film), roughly corresponded to the beginning of my awareness of improv music, and it seemed that for a while there, a new Caravan Of Dreams record popped up in the new release section of my city record stores on a regular basis. Then nothing. It almost seemed to signal the end of a movement. I remember reading somewhere (though I cannot remember where), that most of the musical activity surrounding the centre was filmed as well as recorded, so there may be a treasure of what is now really historical footage.

Edited August 6, 2012 by freelancer

[kh1958]

The Caravan of Dreams opened in September of 1983 with an appearance by Ornette Coleman and Prime Time. In addition, at about the same time, Ornette performed his Skies of America Symphony in Fort Worth with the Fort Worth Symphony.

The Caravan was in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth. It was a beautiful club, with great sound, built with financial backing by one of members of the Fort Worth Bass family (Ed Bass).

On the second floor of the building, there was a small theater, and on the roof, a geodesic dome and bar.

Shirley Clarke was there filming the performance of Ornette and Prime Time on the opening weekend. Also, the recording, Opening the Caravan of Dreams was made that weekend and released a couple of years later when the club started its own record label. The club was designed to record live performances. Their sound man denied, however, when I asked him, that they recorded everything played there. I was skeptical of his denial, though. For a couple of years during the mid-1980s, the club did radio broadcasts on the local public radio station. I believe they did record Ornette on subsequent appearances, but no other live recordings of Ornette were ever released. Also, I recall being present for live recordings of David Newman with a very young Roy Hargrove, and for the Charles Moffett Family Jazz Band, also never released. Filming activity was not the norm; it's not true that most performances there were filmed. I recall that an impromptu set of Ornette Coleman with the Charles Moffett Family Jazz Band was filmed, but that was unusual.

By the end of 1983, I had already seen there (in addition to Ornette), Jack Dejohnette's Special Edition, the Mingus Dynasty, Phil Woods, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, McCoy Tyner, David Newman (with Elis Marsalis), and James Blood Ulmer.

1984 was amazing, reviewing my notes, I saw there, Jimmy Rogers, Quest, Arthur Blythe, Cedar Walton, Paquito D'Rivera, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Freddie Hubbard, Fenton Robinson, Toshiko Akiyoshi (in a trio), James Blood Ulmer, Ornette Coleman and Prime Time (return appearances) Dewey Redman, Woody Shaw, Oliver Lake, Horace Silver, John Blake, Jack Dejohnette's Special Edition (with David Murray), McCoy Tyner, David Murray Octet (with Juliius Hemphill), Vienna Art Orchestra, Abbey Lincoln, Willie Dixon, Mose Allison, Ornette Coleman and Prime Time (performing music for a play in the theater), Paquito D'Rivera and David Newman.

The club continued to book top flight jazz and occasional blues at a high rate through 1987; jazz bookings started to slow down in about 1988 (but they still had Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and Ronald Shannon Jackson and others that year). Jazz continued at a modest pace there through 1992 (Sonny Rollins!). After that, the club remained open and jazz became rare. The last I recall is Cassandra Wilson in 1996. The club closed in 2001.

Edited August 6, 2012 by kh1958

[Pete C]

I read a few months back that a DVD is on the way, same as The Connection. Do you know this for sure?

Yeah, wasn't there talk of a Shirley Clarke box set or series of DVDs?

[robertoart]

Thanks KH1958. That paints a great picture for someone who only knew of it from afar as principally a record label. So it was begun through philanthropic support in a way. I guess the wholistic approach couldn't be sustained over the long haul. What an amazing run of music though!

Did the record label wind down a lot earlier than the club, or did they also change direction.

I'll never forget walking into the big city record store I used to frequent and going to the Jazz new releases section in 1987, and right at the front was the bizarro cover of the Blood Ulmer album. WOW...what is this...and it said Blood was 'singing the Blues' as well

Edited August 6, 2012 by freelancer

[JSngry]

Can't tell the full Caravan Of Dream story without including the tales of Ed Bass, Biosphere, John Allen/Johnny Dolphin , Synergetic Civilization, the theater group that existed alongside the music club, rumblings of the whole thing being a front for some really nasty cult activity and all that.

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-03-23/news/mn-8976_1_biosphere-ii

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=943&dat=19850331&id=fbtPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gFMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4019,2574137

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-06-16/news/9106110666_1_biosphere-ii-colonize-mars-ecology

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1992-03-02/news/9203020068_1_biosphere-1-biosphere-2-carbon-dioxide

And so forth.