A free-fall into the possibilities of sound and rhythm, improvisation is the most mysterious of the arts. It’s no wonder that jazz remains one of the few disciplines taught as the ancients taught: from one person to another, listening, sharing experiences and time. You can’t pick up a book and learn how to improvise, or look it up online; but you can come a little closer to understanding the art of improvisation through Doron Djerassi and Adin Weiner’s film Free Improvisation that follows musician Jean Claude Jones over the course of a year.
Jones is a passionately intense musician, hearing and watching him play live is an unforgettable experience. He ventures into that unmapped terrain of improvisation, drawing the listener deep into the sound, as he travels ever farther one feels the thrill of the unexpected: anything can happen. Living with multiple sclerosis (MS) since 1988, Jones has had to constantly adapt to the changes in his body. As reflected in the film, Jones does this with the same honesty and openness that he brings to his music.
The film focuses on four people: Jones, his wife Judy, his student Ariel Lanyi and Ariel’s father Gabriel Lanyi. Vibrating with love and love of music, the film is full of beauty and laughter. The Jerusalem winter, physical therapy sessions, jam sessions, medicinal cannabis, and late night dishes in the kitchen; the myriad scenes that make up a life. Anything and everything is discussed in the course of the film with no attempt to gloss over the difficult, awkward, messy or painful. It’s all part of the composition.
Free Improvisation will be screened at 20:00 on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at the Apter-Barrer Art Center in Maalot-Tarshiha in the DocAviv Galil 2011 festival. Free Improvisation was screened this week at the IDFA festival, the film premiered at the 2011 DocAviv festival, where it was awarded 2nd place in the Student Competition. Join the Free Improvisation facebook page here.
