Directed by Edward Bland • 1959 • United States
Starring George Waller, Dorothea Horton, Melinda Dillon
Featuring music by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, this landmark semi-documentary explores—via a heated conversation between a group of Black and white jazz aficionados—the relationship between jazz and race in America. Touching on the development of jazz as a distinctly African American art form born of Black struggle and the insidious co-option of Black culture by white people, THE CRY OF JAZZ proved explosively controversial both for its frank discussion of race and its bold proclamation that “jazz is dead.”
Up Next in Free Jazz
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BLACK JOURNAL: Alice Coltrane
Directed by Stan Lathan • 1970 • United States
In this intimate portrait—produced for a segment of National Education Television's “Black Journal” television program—legendary jazz musician Alice Coltrane plays the harp and discusses her thoughts on music, spirituality, family, and the legacy of...
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Dream City
Directed by Ulysses Jenkins • 1983 • United States
A video companion to a twenty-four-hour group performance organized by Ulysses Jenkins, DREAM CITY collages live music, poetry, and dance into a pulsating kaleidoscope of color and sound. Frequent Jenkins collaborators Maren Hassinger, Senga Nen...
