| Ornette: Made in America | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Shirley Clarke |
| Produced by | Kathelin Hoffman |
| Starring | Ornette Coleman |
| Cinematography | Edward Lachman |
| Edited by | Shirley Clarke |
| Music by | Ornette Coleman |
| Distributed by | Milestone Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 77 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Ornette: Made in America is a 1985 Americandocumentary film directed and edited byShirley Clarke that studiessaxophonist andfree jazz innovatorOrnette Coleman.
The film does not chronicle the life of Coleman but rather emulates his freeform style by mixing together excerpts from performances, interviews, experimentalmusic videos and reenactments of Coleman's childhood. Included are interviews with and original footage ofWilliam S. Burroughs,Buckminster Fuller,Ed Blackwell,Robert Palmer,George Russell,John Rockwell,Don Cherry andDenardo Coleman.[1]
The film intercuts interviews, archive footage and psychedelic sequences around Coleman's performance ofSkies of America with theFort Worth Symphony Orchestra at the city'sConvention Center. The opening of the now-defunctCaravan of Dreams nightclub serves as a catalyst for the film's production, but Shirley Clarke had actually been working on the film for a span of over 20 years. The 1968 footage with Ornette, his young son, Denardo, and frequent collaboratorCharlie Haden was filmed by Clarke for a separate film that never came to fruition.[2]
Ornette was Shirley Clarke's last film and reintroduced her to the independent film and jazz music circuits that she had influenced during the 1960s. Clarke's intrusive,fast cutting editing style and Kit Fitzgerald'savant-garde music video work won the film praise.[3]
In late 2012,Milestone Films rereleasedOrnette in select theaters and distributed the restored film on DVD and Blu-ray. This is part of a greater effort on behalf of Milestone to rerelease all of Clarke's old films.[4]