Ornette: Made in America

Directed by Shirley Clarke
Year: 1985
Country: U.S.
Language: English
English Closed Captions

Returning in 1983 to his home in Fort Worth, Texas, documentary footage and dramatic scenes recall legendary performer and composer Ornette Coleman's rise from oppressed youth to cultural pioneer. Raised in segregated Texas before traveling the world from Morocco to New York, his subsequent emergence as a world-class earned Ornette praise from the lines of icon William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Buckminster Fuller, Don Cherry, Yoko Ono, Charlie Haden, Robert Palmer and more – all contributors to this film. Featuring some of the first music-video-style footage of its time, director Shirley Clarke and producer Kathelin Hoffman employed innovative techniques to capture the extraordinary vision of the man behind the music. ORNETTE: MADE IN AMERICA is essential for anyone hoping to understand the history of jazz and the fertile creative exchange that highlighted the 60’s and 70’s in America.

Cast
Ornette Coleman
William Burroughs
Brion Gysin
Buckminster Fuller
Don Cherry
Yoko Ono
Charlie Haden
Robert Palmer

Crew
Directed by Shirley Clarke