In their first collaboration, directors Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed explore the space of jazz music by following Danish composer and jazz guitarist Jakob Bro as he meets and records with fellow musicians.
In 2008, Leth and Koefoed attended a studio session in New York where jazz guitarist Jakob Bro was recording his first international album, “Balladeering,” with the influential Lee Konitz, among others. Over the next 14 years, the filmmakers continued to follow Bro through similar encounters with musicians familiar and new, from different generations and parts of the world, each with their own jazz style.
The film moves between past and present sessions instead of following a chronological order, which gives it more flow and seems appropriate given the improvisational nature of some of the jazz music on display. In each encounter, the film focuses on the musicians’ dynamics and the way they play separately and together. Through their conversations we learn more about the history and life of jazz music, and how every generation influences the next. Individual interviews also give us valuable insight into each player’s relationship with music. The film also strays beyond recording studios or performance centres and into the homes of a few musicians, including Jakob Bro and Lee Konitz.
Lee is particularly intriguing and entertaining to follow. An elderly jazz saxophonist and composer, he has a blunt manner, a dry sense of humour, and years of stories about music. During one session, he plays with the first saxophone he ever got, which his parents bought for him in 1945. Lee’s music sounds quite different from Jakob’s as they bring their distinct generational influences to their compositions, and yet when they play together they create an effective blend of classic and new. While we witness Lee’s incredible musical talent in action, we also see him struggle with aging. When he can’t find a particular mouthpiece among his collection, Lee sets off in a taxi to buy a new one—only he can’t remember the name or location of the music store. Frustrated, he abandons the taxi ride. It’s a sobering moment that nevertheless contributes to the film’s exploration of the intersection of music and life.
Other jazz musicians we meet along the way include Mark Turner, Palle Mikkelborg, Thomas Morgan, Jon Christensen, Paul Motian, Midori Takada, and Andrew Cyrille. It’s fascinating to watch the musicians play; Thomas and Midori in particular give very physical performances, putting their entire bodies and minds into the music. In his interview, Thomas is quite soft-spoken and struggles to put into words the emotions he feels when he plays, explaining it can feel like many different things. Other musicians describe playing as a kind of meditation. Midori offers a comparison to nature and taking in the elements, while Andrew says it’s about matter and energy, a mode of communication, and a celebration of life.
From California and New York to Copenhagen, Berlin and Tokyo, the film takes us across the world in pursuit of jazz music. Viewers not so keen on the genre will still appreciate the film as well as the music it showcases, not only because we develop a personal connection with the players but also because we learn how incredibly different jazz can sound from one composer to the next, and one generation to the next. The end of the film includes a tribute to the musicians who died over the long course of filming, making the film’s meditations on jazz music that much more poignant.
Music for Black Pigeons will premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival as part of the Out of Competition category, which presents short and feature-length works from established filmmakers in both fiction and documentary, but which do not compete for the main prize.
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