Ornette Coleman

A journey in sound through the unusual life and career of jazz legend Charles Lloyd. Lloyd's own voice, and those who worked with him over the last five decades help us discover and better understand this enigmatic man and his spiritual pursuit through music.

The story centres on an orphaned quartet (boy, two girls, a baby) washed ashore on a desert island in what just might be the Bahamas. There, they encounter a pile of branches that transforms into a dubious Jesus-esque bearded man, as well as a doppelganger family of naked black children.

Sonny Rollins: Beyond the Notes uses his 80th birthday concert to look into the man and his music.

Ornette Coleman is always asked, “what is Harmolodics?” Harmolodics is the term he coined to describe his music and his philosophy of life. He decided to do a short film about Harmolodics. A few artists were in enlisted, including Lou Reed, Thurston Moore, Yoko Ono and dancer Wunmi Olaiya. The film only went out to journalists as part of the Tone Dialing press kit. It was released publicly in honor of the occasion of Ornette’s 90th birthday March 9, 2020.

Ornette Coleman is always asked, “what is Harmolodics?” Harmolodics is the term he coined to describe his music and his philosophy of life. He decided to do a short film about Harmolodics. A few artists were in enlisted, including Lou Reed, Thurston Moore, Yoko Ono and dancer Wunmi Olaiya. The film only went out to journalists as part of the Tone Dialing press kit. It was released publicly in honor of the occasion of Ornette’s 90th birthday March 9, 2020.

Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.

Shirley Clarke's frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman.

Shirley Clarke's frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman.

The important L.A. Newsreel film about the Black Panthers that was rediscovered and written about by USC professor David James. Featured in the film is rare footage of many of the important West Coast Panthers such as Masai Hewitt, David Hilliard, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, Eldridge Cleaver, John Huggins, and as well as footage of the aftermath of the LAPD raid on the Los Angeles Panther Headquarters. Musically the film begins with the opening jazz music by Ornette Coleman and later features the call to arms anthem, “The End of Silence” written and sung by Panther Elaine Brown.

A film in cut-out animation depicting the demographic problems of the world. It shows that in many countries freedom from the old scourges of famine and disease has in turn created the new problem of more mouths to feed. The film suggests that wealthier nations might increase all forms of aid to struggling nations to create a better world.

Semi-autobiographical story of Conrad Rooks, who travels to France to undergo a drug-withdrawal cure. Flashbacks to the beginings of psychedelia in San Fran. Though initially confusing, as Rooks blends drug-illusion with reality, and cuts color with black-and-white and monochrome tinted shots, "Chappaqua" is conventionally constructed with a beginning, middle, and end.

Insane asylum inmates escape their confinement and hole up in a deserted Belgian farmhouse, where they cook large quantities of eggs and condemn one of their own in an impromptu court. Accompanied by a frenetic original soundtrack by the great Ornette Coleman and starring The Living Theater.

Collection of Computer Graphic effects.