Ornette: Made in America

Not surprisingly, the musical content in this documentary about modern jazz's greatest iconoclast is superb: much of it revolves around a 1983 performance of Ornette Coleman's 'Skies of America' suite, with orchestra and the harmolodic Prime Time band. Clarke's film, however, is something else: with updated psychedelic visual tricks, and little info on the master's life or career, it fails to do him or his music justice. But for the sight and sound of the man in action (including some fine archive footage from the early '70s), it's essential viewing for any jazz aficionado.