Film review: Ornette: Made in America @ Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle - Feb. 6

A rare screening of Shirley Clarke's 1985 documentary film Ornette: Made in America. The Star and Shadow Cinema on Warwick Street, Newcastle attracted many of the usual suspects. Filmed over something like thirty years, Clarke's film was both of its time and not so much of its time - the overall look and feel more Woodstock-era than mid-eighties filmmaking.  

Grainy footage, fast cut editing, visually and audially there was little or no respite. Freight trains, cityscapes, street scenes, from Ornette's early years in Fort Worth, Texas to Ornette the established/revered artist in NYC, the relentless soundtrack didn't accommodate a moment's silence.  

Central to the documentary's 77 minutes was Coleman's Prime Time working in tandem with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Talking heads lavished praise (at times their contributions were difficult to hear thanks to the film's insistent soundtrack), George Russell particularly effusive. Whether a Coleman aficionado or curious newcomer to the man's music, Ornette: Made in America possibly/probably left the Star and Shadow Cinema cinemagoer not quite satisfied. Russell