Venice Film Festival title “Music for Black Pigeons,” directed by Danish filmmakers Jørgen Leth, best known for “The Five Obstructions,” and “The Lost Leonardo” helmer Andreas Koefoed, has debuted its trailer with Variety.
The documentary, which premieres on Tuesday in Venice’s Out of Competition section, explores the lives and processes of some of the world’s most renowned and prolific jazz musicians, including Jakob Bro, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian and Midori Takada.
Leth, who has directed more than 40 films including landmark works such as “A Sunday in Hell” (1977) and the surrealist short “The Perfect Human” (1968), returns to Venice after his feature documentary “The Five Obstructions,” which he co-directed with Lars von Trier, screened on the Lido in 2003.
The footage in “Music for Black Pigeons” was shot over the course of 14 years, throughout North America, Europe and Japan. From the hours of recordings, Leth and Koefoed discovered intimate,...
The documentary, which premieres on Tuesday in Venice’s Out of Competition section, explores the lives and processes of some of the world’s most renowned and prolific jazz musicians, including Jakob Bro, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian and Midori Takada.
Leth, who has directed more than 40 films including landmark works such as “A Sunday in Hell” (1977) and the surrealist short “The Perfect Human” (1968), returns to Venice after his feature documentary “The Five Obstructions,” which he co-directed with Lars von Trier, screened on the Lido in 2003.
The footage in “Music for Black Pigeons” was shot over the course of 14 years, throughout North America, Europe and Japan. From the hours of recordings, Leth and Koefoed discovered intimate,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Jazz is a web. Because of the genre’s inherently collaborative, often mix-and-match nature, singling out a supporting player we like on a given record might lead us to dozens of other sessions featuring that same artist in various contexts. Or we might pick up a certain current in the music that crops up elsewhere, unifying albums that seemed to have little else in common. In 2020, when connection of any kind was scarce, these sorts of musical hyperlinks seemed all the more precious, a way to map and marvel at...
- 12/15/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Lee Konitz, an alto saxophonist who was an exemplar of jazz’s so-called “cool school,” died Wednesday in Manhattan of coronavirus complications, according to his niece, Linda Konitz.
Unlike the somewhat frantic and passionate be-bop, Konitz’s style was considered more laid back and cerebral. While some dismissed it as too passive, most recognized it as a unique path for those who wished to blaze a new and unique harmonic style.
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While Konitz wasn’t as well-known as a lot of his contemporaries, he was much-admired in the jazz world. He also taught for many years from his Manhattan apartment to a worldwide legion of acolytes.
Unlike the somewhat frantic and passionate be-bop, Konitz’s style was considered more laid back and cerebral. While some dismissed it as too passive, most recognized it as a unique path for those who wished to blaze a new and unique harmonic style.
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While Konitz wasn’t as well-known as a lot of his contemporaries, he was much-admired in the jazz world. He also taught for many years from his Manhattan apartment to a worldwide legion of acolytes.
- 4/18/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Jazz pianist Dan Tepfer is known for forging deep musical relationships. The 2018 album Decade featured highly attuned duets between the 37-year-old and legendary 91-year-old alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, his collaborator for 10 years. Tepfer’s new album features a similar kind of intense communication — the only difference is that this time, his partner is an algorithm.
On Natural Machines, out May 17th on Sunnyside Records, Tepfer plays a Yamaha Disklavier — a state-of-the-art digital player piano — that he programs with various commands. Tepfer will play a note, chord or phrase, and the...
On Natural Machines, out May 17th on Sunnyside Records, Tepfer plays a Yamaha Disklavier — a state-of-the-art digital player piano — that he programs with various commands. Tepfer will play a note, chord or phrase, and the...
- 4/30/2019
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Sex Mob: Cinema, Circus & Spaghetti: Sex Mob Plays Fellini: The Music of Nino Rota (Royal Potato Family)
Call me crazy, but I feel a connection between Rota's themes for Fellini's films and the melodic styles of Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman. Granted, what each did once past their respective themes became wildly different, with Rota never abandoning harmony, Ornette twisting it in new directions, and Ayler abandoning it altogether, but before that happens, their themes share an effulgent earthiness and overflowing humanity. And who better to bring out the jazz side of that earthy humanity than the great recontextualizer Steve Bernstein and his longstanding quartet with Briggan Krauss (alto and baritone saxes), Tony Scherr (electric bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums, gongs, log drum, waterphone, vibraphone).
Bernstein's slide trumpet in particular has the microtonal relationship with pitch that Ayler and Coleman each cherished to varying degrees, including a wide...
Call me crazy, but I feel a connection between Rota's themes for Fellini's films and the melodic styles of Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman. Granted, what each did once past their respective themes became wildly different, with Rota never abandoning harmony, Ornette twisting it in new directions, and Ayler abandoning it altogether, but before that happens, their themes share an effulgent earthiness and overflowing humanity. And who better to bring out the jazz side of that earthy humanity than the great recontextualizer Steve Bernstein and his longstanding quartet with Briggan Krauss (alto and baritone saxes), Tony Scherr (electric bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums, gongs, log drum, waterphone, vibraphone).
Bernstein's slide trumpet in particular has the microtonal relationship with pitch that Ayler and Coleman each cherished to varying degrees, including a wide...
- 7/2/2013
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Gil Evans, perhaps the second-greatest arranger in jazz after Duke Ellington, was born Ian Ernest Gilmore Green on May 13, 1912 in Toronto, Canada (Evans was his stepfather's name). Though best known for his collaborations with Miles Davis, Evans released many great albums as a bandleader and created a highly influential style that changed the course of jazz history.
Though self-taught, by age 21 Evans was leading a big band that became the house group at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach. Eventually it was fronted and then led by singer Skinnay Ennis, and Claude Thornhill joined Evans in providing arrangements for them. Thornhill then moved to New York to start his own band, and in 1941 invited Evans to New York to write arrangements. Soon Evans's arrangements with their lush, hazy, floating textures defined the Thornhill style.
Though theoretically a swing band, the Thornhill ensemble was one of the most progressive big bands of its time,...
Though self-taught, by age 21 Evans was leading a big band that became the house group at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach. Eventually it was fronted and then led by singer Skinnay Ennis, and Claude Thornhill joined Evans in providing arrangements for them. Thornhill then moved to New York to start his own band, and in 1941 invited Evans to New York to write arrangements. Soon Evans's arrangements with their lush, hazy, floating textures defined the Thornhill style.
Though theoretically a swing band, the Thornhill ensemble was one of the most progressive big bands of its time,...
- 5/13/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this weekTheatre
Enquirer
The Guardian's Deborah Orr is one of a team conducting the interviews with journalists for this timely site-specific verbatim piece about the media. Andrew O'Hagan co-edits a project directed and edited by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany. The Hub, Glasgow (0141-429 0022), 19 April to 13 May.
A History of Everything
The controversial Ghent-based company Ontroerend Goed returns to the UK with a show that offers a history of everything, from now back to the Big Bang. No small undertaking from a company that has delighted and challenged spectators with previous shows including the outrageous Audience. Drum, Plymouth (01752 267222), until 28 April.
Film
The Cabin in the Woods (dir. Drew Goddard)
A bunch of great-looking teens take a...
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this weekTheatre
Enquirer
The Guardian's Deborah Orr is one of a team conducting the interviews with journalists for this timely site-specific verbatim piece about the media. Andrew O'Hagan co-edits a project directed and edited by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany. The Hub, Glasgow (0141-429 0022), 19 April to 13 May.
A History of Everything
The controversial Ghent-based company Ontroerend Goed returns to the UK with a show that offers a history of everything, from now back to the Big Bang. No small undertaking from a company that has delighted and challenged spectators with previous shows including the outrageous Audience. Drum, Plymouth (01752 267222), until 28 April.
Film
The Cabin in the Woods (dir. Drew Goddard)
A bunch of great-looking teens take a...
- 4/15/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
This is the point at which I'm supposed to ponder the immediate present and near future of jazz and improvised music. Not gonna do it. No matter how dire the straits of the music industry, changing distribution and presentation, etc., this music will continue to be made because it has to be made, and artists feel compelled to keep it going despite travails. It's all about the music and its amazing power for catharsis, its ability to lift us and inspire us. So without further ado, here's what inspired me most in 2011.
1. Richie Beirach: Impressions of Tokyo (Outnote)
I was going to call this a comeback, but Beirach (above) hasn't exactly been gone, certainly not as far as recordings are concerned -- he's had 18 released under his name in the past 11 years, plus collaborations (one of those appears further down this list). I guess I think of it as a...
1. Richie Beirach: Impressions of Tokyo (Outnote)
I was going to call this a comeback, but Beirach (above) hasn't exactly been gone, certainly not as far as recordings are concerned -- he's had 18 released under his name in the past 11 years, plus collaborations (one of those appears further down this list). I guess I think of it as a...
- 12/31/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Paul Motian passed away at age 80 yesterday after complications from the bone-marrow disorder myelodisplastic syndrome. In a career that exceeded five decades, Motian was one of the most respected drummers in jazz history as well as a superb composer and adept bandleader. Critic Art Lange called him "that rare commodity, an intimate drummer." And here's a bit of trivia: Motian played at Woodstock, in Arlo Guthrie's band.
Even music lovers largely unfamiliar with jazz have heard his work with pianist Bill Evans, whose trio Motian played in from 1959 to 1964. Other piano greats who availed themselves of Motian's subtly swinging sense of rhythm included Thelonious Monk, Herbie Nichols, Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, Carla Bley, Lennie Tristano, Mose Allison, Martial Solal, Enrico Pieranunzi, and Marilyn Crispell.
On his own records (perhaps to avoid comparisons?) he favored guitarists instead, most notably Bill Frisell. After graduating from their '80s apprenticeships in Motian's trio and quintet,...
Even music lovers largely unfamiliar with jazz have heard his work with pianist Bill Evans, whose trio Motian played in from 1959 to 1964. Other piano greats who availed themselves of Motian's subtly swinging sense of rhythm included Thelonious Monk, Herbie Nichols, Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, Carla Bley, Lennie Tristano, Mose Allison, Martial Solal, Enrico Pieranunzi, and Marilyn Crispell.
On his own records (perhaps to avoid comparisons?) he favored guitarists instead, most notably Bill Frisell. After graduating from their '80s apprenticeships in Motian's trio and quintet,...
- 11/23/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
This final wrap comes with a reminder that all our reviews, interviews and coverage of the coverage is indexed right here.
"Throughout her nearly half-century career, actress Charlotte Rampling has rarely shied away from exposing herself onscreen," writes Jordan Mintzer in the Hollywood Reporter. "In the new bio documentary The Look, she bares it all yet again, but this time in a series of compelling discussions with different artists, writers, photographers and filmmakers." Karina Longworth for the Voice: "Director Angelina Maccarone intersperses well-chosen clips from Rampling's greatest acting hits, which hammer home the larger themes, and also offer a much-needed reminder that Max, Mon Amour exists. It's breezy and entertaining, but only occasionally more than superficially insightful. Ideal catch-it-on-cable-on-a-hungover-Saturday viewing."
More from Mark Adams (Screen) and Boyd van Hoeij (Variety). Catherine Shoard interviews Rampling for the Guardian. Clips: 1 and 2. Until The Look hits cable, we have the Charlotte Rampling gallery at everyday_i_show.
"Throughout her nearly half-century career, actress Charlotte Rampling has rarely shied away from exposing herself onscreen," writes Jordan Mintzer in the Hollywood Reporter. "In the new bio documentary The Look, she bares it all yet again, but this time in a series of compelling discussions with different artists, writers, photographers and filmmakers." Karina Longworth for the Voice: "Director Angelina Maccarone intersperses well-chosen clips from Rampling's greatest acting hits, which hammer home the larger themes, and also offer a much-needed reminder that Max, Mon Amour exists. It's breezy and entertaining, but only occasionally more than superficially insightful. Ideal catch-it-on-cable-on-a-hungover-Saturday viewing."
More from Mark Adams (Screen) and Boyd van Hoeij (Variety). Catherine Shoard interviews Rampling for the Guardian. Clips: 1 and 2. Until The Look hits cable, we have the Charlotte Rampling gallery at everyday_i_show.
- 6/2/2011
- MUBI
DVD Playhouse—April 2010
By
Allen Gardner
Ride With The Devil (Criterion) Ang Lee’s revisionist take on the Civil War is awash in moral ambiguity, along with some stunning cinematography, production design, and fine performances. Set during the Kansas-Missouri border war, Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as two friends who join up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwhackers, finding an odd ally in a former slave (Jeffrey Wright). While it’s fascinating to see America’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of a foreigner, thereby allowing much of the previously mentioned ambiguity a certain latitude, the film never loses the bad taste it leaves for one simple reason: it asks us, the audience, to side with not just the Confederates, but some of the lowest trash that made up the dregs, and the fringes, of the movement. Big points for audacity, but snake eyes on the story itself. Singer Jewel is impressive in her film debut.
By
Allen Gardner
Ride With The Devil (Criterion) Ang Lee’s revisionist take on the Civil War is awash in moral ambiguity, along with some stunning cinematography, production design, and fine performances. Set during the Kansas-Missouri border war, Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as two friends who join up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwhackers, finding an odd ally in a former slave (Jeffrey Wright). While it’s fascinating to see America’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of a foreigner, thereby allowing much of the previously mentioned ambiguity a certain latitude, the film never loses the bad taste it leaves for one simple reason: it asks us, the audience, to side with not just the Confederates, but some of the lowest trash that made up the dregs, and the fringes, of the movement. Big points for audacity, but snake eyes on the story itself. Singer Jewel is impressive in her film debut.
- 4/16/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
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