Ron Mann's Imagine the Sound May 6, 2007

Showings at 6pm and 8pm.

1981/2007, 90 minutes, video. Presented with special thanks to Ron Mann and Sphinx Productions.

"IMAGINE THE SOUND focuses on four musicians influential in the evolution of free-form jazz in the late-50s and early-60s – Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Paul Bley and Bill Dixon. Under the influence of his mentor Emile De Antonio, Mann created a performance-film/documentary, which contradicts the traditions and clichés of both genres… IMAGINE THE SOUND catches these four men at the height of their powers. As interview subjects, they have a perspective that has evolved in the course of the twenty years of interplay between their lives and music. As musicians they've added control and maturity to the ferocity of their early work. This is great music and IMAGINE THE SOUND is a film worthy of it." –Joe Medjuck

"The first feature of Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann (POETRY IN MOTION, COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL) may still be the best documentary on free-jazz that we have. The film consists mainly of interviews with and performances by four key musicians: solo pianists Cecil Taylor and Paul Bley, trumpet player Bill Dixon, and tenor saxophone player Archie Shepp. Mann is attentive to the visual impact of the music (Taylor's piano playing, for instance, virtually qualifies as a form of dancing) and its diverse biographical, musical, and ideological underpinnings (the musicians are all highly articulate). Essential viewing and listening for free-jazz devotees." –Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER