Ron Mann & Bill Smith’s Imagine The Sound

Imagine the Sound (1981) was Ron Mann's directorial debut and remains the definitive cinematic portrait of early experimental jazz. Shot in Toronto, it features some of creative music's greatest protagonists Paul Bley, Bill Dixon, Archie Shepp, and Cecil Taylor. The film lovingly reveals each player's particular playing approach and philosophy through rousing and vividly captured performances as well as cogent and candid interviews. Since this film Mann has delivered now-classic documentaries such as Grass and Comicbook Confidential, yet Imagine the Sound maintains its iconic status through raw yet beautiful photography, and insightful questions posed by Coda Magazine/ Sackville Records head honcho Bill Smith, the film's co-producer. Mann will be on hand to present and discuss the film in a Q&A session following the screening.

sphinxproductions.com

Directed by: Ron Mann Featuring: Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, and Bill Dixon. Producers: Ron Mann, Bill Smith Director of Photography: Robert Fresco Sound Recordist: Phil Sheridan Editor: Sonya Polonsky IMAGINE THE SOUND brings together interviews and performances with the prime innovators of the once controversial free jazz movement of the 60s. The first feature documentary by Ron Mann (GRASS, COMICBOOK CONFIDENTIAL) is an eloquent tribute to a group of highly celebrated artists that helped forge the avant-garde jazz of the 1960s. Critic and film historian Jonathan Rosenbaum has said IMAGINE THE SOUND “may be the best documentary on free jazz that we have.” The film features articulate interviews and dramatic performances by pianists Cecil Taylor and Paul Bley, tenor saxophone Archie Shepp, and trumpet player Bill Dixon.
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