I had a lot of problems with the film’s organization and my girlfriend, who’s not really a jazz nut, found the organization difficult to follow and had also wished for Coltrane’s voice to be included (to me it’s clear that Scheinfeld wanted a specific actor’s voice, whether or not Trane interviews could be cleaned up). Clinton seems like another weird choice — where was Pharoah? Where were some of the jazz musicians he influenced, like Gary Bartz or Archie Shepp? Santana and Densmore are cool but come on… And as great as Coltrane was, he was one musician in a pretty vast setting, which is not clear from the film. Jazz is a whole lot more than Miles, Monk, Parker and Coltrane and even if one is doing a film about a single individual, one has to give an idea that there was some other stuff occurring in the music after 1949.

BTW does anyone have news on the Moondog Film which was in production but seems to have
vanished?

I’m in Iowa City. When Miles Ahead and Born To Be Blue came out, the jazz station KCCK hosted a double feature at the indie theater. I’m hoping they can arrange a similar event, and I did suggest it to them a few months back. I have no idea the process to get a film screened, but maybe worth another email.

I’m hoping this release will either be on a streaming service or be available to download.

What I don’t understand is the statement that there aren’t quality audio interviews with Coltrane out there. I know of two: the Kofsky and the Japanese interview. They are both easily available and sound more than fine (and presumably could be cleaned up even more with contemporary technology). Could the director not get clearances to use them?