Film Details

Sometimes called the best jazz movie ever made, this little-known indie feature was the UCLA diploma film of a Cleveland-born African-American filmmaker who became a key member of the 1970s-1980s L.A. Rebellion film movement. (It also produced Charles Burnett and Julie Dash.) The film tells of a saxophonist (Nathaniel Taylor), recently released from prison, who shuns the jazz clubs and record labels owned by whites in order to reconnect with his jazz legend grandfather (Clarence Muse) and the music’s roots in the black liberation movements of Africa. The killer soundtrack features John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, et al. Film preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. “Jazz cinema.” –Haile Gerima. DCP. 111 min.