EBBA JAHN RISING TONES CROSS (1984)

Director: Ebba Jahn

Year: 1984

Time: 112 mins

Music

Peter Kowald Quintet

Peter Kowald Trio

John Zorn & Wayne Horvitz

Billy Bang's Forbidden Planet

William Parker & Patricia Nicholson Ensemble

Charles Tyler Quintet

Don Cherry & The Sound Unity Orchestra

Jemeel Moondoc Sextet

Irène Schweizer Trio

Peter Brotzman Ensemble

[see comments for details]

Eye of Sound: It may sound difficult to believe it, but most of the artists listed above were once striving for recognition in the jazz scene and fighting for sheer survival. Ebba Jahn's Rising Tone Cross captures a moment when these artists were just starting to create a "scene", when their sparkling creativity was not yet comforted by certainty and success. More interestingly, perhaps, the film deals with issues of class and race and with the differences between the social contexts of improvised music in Europe and America, challenging many assumptions about musicianship, career building, and the possibilities for an artistic livelihood. What really distinguishes this from other "jazz films", however, is the visual and narrative focus on New York as the metaphorical force behind the musician's creative burst, portraying it as a dirty, poor, rough and lively city not yet tamed by shinny images of  success and bourgeois comfort.

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