Reviews (1)

Complex intensity
Mr. Taylor plays with an intensity and insight that is both rare and extraordinary. Mr. Taylor exudes creative energy and his virtuosity is unmatched. Because his music is difficult, it has become easier dismiss, rather than expend the energy required to fully appreciate his contribution to the tradition of music. Not for the faint of heart. ... Read more

Amazon.com

When Imagine the Sound was released in 1981, ChicagoReader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum deemed it "the best documentary on freejazz that we have." Decades later, the same praise holds true. Director Ron Mann(Grass, Comicbook Confidential) gathered four seminal avant-gardejazz musicians--pianists Cecil Taylor and Paul Bley, tenor saxophonist ArchieShepp, and trumpet player Bill Dixon--in a studio for interviews and individualperformances. The result is an incredibly philosophical look at the how theirsocial, political, and creative free-form explorations changed the face of jazzmusic in the early '60s. Like free-jazz players improvising on tonality andtime, this documentary itself is structureless, as Mann continuously spins offon different tangents. He weaves numerous heady interviews--completely devoid ofnostalgia--with long, uninterrupted, intimate sequences of all of the musiciansbreaking new musical ground. During one particularly illuminating interview,Bley states that free jazz arrived from a "tremendous disdain for the known,"and the same can be said of Mann's thrilling approach here. --Dave McCoy ... Read more