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Variations on the Theme of Freedom
A Feature Film by Douglas Chang
Music by Stacy Dillard, Eric Reed and others
We are seeking material support for the production of a fiction feature about
five jazz musicians, whose interlocking stories reveal competing visions of
freedom in both their music and their lives.
“Chaography” is more than just another movie “about” jazz”; it’s the equivalent
of a concept album on film. We are actually trying to incorporate jazz ideas
into the film’s narrative and visual rhythms, engaging with the subject as
musicians might approach a song cycle like Charles Mingus’ The Black Saint and
the Sinner Lady or John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Anchored by original music to
be composed and performed by some of the most exciting young talent working
today, the film will seek to explore what freedom really means, using jazz as a
mirror of the choices we make in our individual and collective pursuit of
happiness.
The film’s five “story tracks” invoke different moods and styles of
storytelling, but share recurring themes and characters. Each will be treated as
a skeleton around which the performers are allowed to play and improvise; some
are more tightly scripted, while others give freer rein to the performers and
production team. This approach will enable us to make a film that produces the
same spontaneous excitement as the best of jazz can do.
The film was freely adapted from anecdotes passed down to me by my father, who
worked as a bartender at a legendary New York nightclub called the Jazz Gallery
from 1959-1962. In those pivotal years, when the boundaries of jazz were
expanding as fast and often as controversially as the nation’s social and
political fabric, my father was nightly exposed to such greats as Thelonious
Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, along with
a colorful assortment of Beat writers, avant-garde composers, European
aristocrats and others. From his memories and other snippets of information I’ve
collected over the years, I have invented five fictional characters loosely
inspired by these jazz legends and the worlds expressed in their music.
Each story is focused around one of the musicians, seeking to dramatize an
aspect of freedom explored in his work. Interwoven throughout is the parallel
storyline of Max and his girlfriend Ava, two Chinese-American students who enter
the jazz world as bystanders (like my father, Max is thoroughly assimilated,
while Ava has newly arrived from China). Their attempt to build a life together
in America provides a poignant counterpoint to the journeys of the artists.
2009 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Davis’s “Kind of Blue,” Coltrane’s “Giant
Steps,” Mingus’ “Ah Um” and Coleman’s “The Shape of Jazz to Come” – all released
in 1959. “Chaography” seeks not only to capitalize on the interest already
generated by this milestone, but to tap into the visceral excitement of that
extraordinary moment, introducing new fans to what I believe may be the most
exciting generation of jazz artists to emerge since that time.
Synopsis
Part I, “Bar Stops,” is inspired by the music of Thelonious Monk. Its narrative,
following a Pianist torn between the people he cares about and the
transgressions which lead him away from them, explores the notion of “Freedom
vs. Love.” Like one of Monk’s solos, the story is idiosyncratic and circular,
building upon its world in countless variations which fold back in upon
themselves, alternating between playfulness and provocation.
Part II, “The Philosopher’s Got No Words for This,” is inspired by the music of
Charles Mingus. Exploring the issue of “Freedom vs. Oppression,” it presents the
tragicomic exploits of a Bassist trying to reestablish himself in the city after
fleeing to Mexico to escape the messy collapse of his marriage. It’s conceived
as a silent film set to a boisterous Mingus-like soundtrack, brimming with
melodrama, slapstick and, finally, profound pathos.
Part III, “Ten to One,” is inspired by the music of Miles Davis. Following a
Trumpeter’s attempts to cajole his restless Sax player to stay in the band, and
simultaneously to woo Ava, who has just gotten engaged to Max, the section
explores the tension embodied in “Freedom vs. Community.” As in much of Miles’
music, the narrative unfolds in elliptical fragments, full of pregnant pauses
and mysterious leaps, which we the audience must piece together.
Part IV, “Pile On,” is inspired by the music of Ornette Coleman. Spanning a day
in the life of a Plastic Saxophonist (in his earlier years Coleman often played
on a plastic sax), the story follows a series of increasingly absurd episodes he
encounters on the way to his day job, dramatizing the paradox of “Freedom vs.
Order.” In keeping with Coleman’s experimental nature, this section will be shot
and edited with a loose, expressionistic quality veering just this side of
chaos.
Part V, “Departure (or The Shadow of Death),” is inspired by the music of John
Coltrane. Investigating the problem of “Freedom vs. Fate,” the story finds the
Sax player, marked for an untimely death, entering magically into the life of
Max, who has chosen a different path, becoming a businessman and seeking
domestic bliss with Ava and their children. This concluding section is, like
Coltrane’s music, probing and spiritual, taking wild narrative turns in search
of the ineffable.
Each story is like a song on an album, able to stand on its own as a
self-contained unit with a sharply defined beginning, middle and end. But each
also grows deeper as it connects with the other stories, building upon one
another to fashion a larger dramatic arc – one that indelibly links these
disparate lives, however different their goals and outward methods may appear to
be. Reveling in the surprising ways the connections are revealed, the film
thematically encourages the viewer’s own sense of spontaneous discovery.
Stacy Dillard, Eric Reed and company will produce music that evokes the spirit
of these jazz legends… but which also moves the art form in new directions, ripe
for discovery by a new generation of fans. Rather than giving jazz the
respectful but timid “classical” treatment, the film and its talent will seek to
create exciting new sounds, taking the work of the masters as a jumping-off
point but never as their final destination.
The World That Shapes the Work
In much the same spirit as Todd Haynes’ film about Bob Dylan, “I’m Not There,”
“Chaography” eschews a literal historical approach, preferring to “riff” freely
off real-life incidents described by my father and using imagination and
improvisation to fill in the gaps. Some of the stories contain elements of
vaudeville, melodrama or magic realism; others experiment with essay and
documentary forms. We have also chosen not to set the film in the past but in an
“eternal present,” playing itself out in a New York that exists simultaneously
as contemporary landscape and urban myth.
The film highlights two singular American subcultures – the jazz world with its
deeply African American roots, and the Chinese American community – interacting
in a thoroughly modern way. Drawing almost unconsciously from their encounters
at the club, borrowing from each other’s ideas and absorbing each other’s
traditions, they embody diversity at its most vital and inventive, no longer
governed by strict definitions of culture and race but by organic and ongoing
transformation.
We’ve deliberately tried to avoid the stereotypical tropes of earlier jazz
films. While some of the stories do touch upon the inescapable realities of drug
abuse and racial discrimination within the jazz world, these never become the
central focus. Instead, the film offers nuanced three-dimensional portraits
which celebrate the joy, playfulness and hard work that go into making the music
even as it acknowledges the struggles in the musicians’ personal lives.
Beneath this spiky cocktail of drama, music and formal experimentation flows a
serious thematic concern. In recent years Americans have gotten so used to using
the word “freedom” that we seldom bother to question what we mean. These stories
suggest that freedom can mean different things in different contexts, and asks
us to consider under what conditions it flourishes or wanes, and at what cost.
Is freedom ever superseded by the greater good? Can it be exercised without
impinging on someone else’s freedom? What is its relationship to choice? If its
goal is to create a meritocracy, what happens to those who fall to the bottom
rung? If its goal is equality, who or what manages the competing forces? How do
we balance it with our responsibilities and commitments to other people? Which
makes you freer, having less or having more? What, in the end, do we really want
from our freedom? And is it possible for each of us to want different things
without wrenching our shared community apart? By exploring these problems in an
artful and entertaining fashion, we hope to spark new and deeper ways of
expressing our freedom, both as artists and individuals.
Production Strategy
Much as Sergio Leone utilized Ennio Morricone’s ravishing score for “Once Upon a
Time in the West,” letting his musical themes lead the filming, “Chaography”
will make music integral to its shooting and editing styles. For this reason we
plan to record the club performance sequences first, using a three-camera HD
setup to capture the intimacy of the performances from several different angles.
The resulting music will serve as the movie’s soundtrack, while the performance
video (with music) will be edited into “live” sequences within the body of the
film.
Given the somewhat experimental nature of this film, we are taking pains to
ensure that the budget remains realistically modest (under $500,000), though
still healthy enough to enable us to secure appropriate locations, create
beautiful and stylish visual images around the material, and produce
peak-quality sound especially for the musical performances. We also want to make
sure that all cast, musicians and crew are paid appropriately for their work.
Having initiated preliminary discussions, we are confident that we will be able
to secure the cost-effective use of one of Manhattan’s jazz clubs as our central
location.
Plans for Distribution and Promotion
From “Easy Rider” to “Once,” great music has always inspired independent vision
in film. It would be especially satisfying if this film were able to further the
careers of a new generation of artists who, like so many jazz pioneers over the
years, seldom expect to reap substantial rewards from playing the music they
love.
“Chaography” will appeal to several different audiences, and we will reach out
to each of these groups with targeted appeals. Jazz venues (some of whom will
have participated in the filming), jazz publications and radio stations will be
approached in order to reach those specifically interested in the music; in many
cases, the director and musicians appearing in the film will make themselves
available for interviews. Legendary jazz DJ Phil Schapp of WKCR in New York has
offered to promote the film on his station, and we anticipate DJs in other
cities may as well.
We will also contact organizations devoted to the survival of jazz, seeking to
arrange special preview screenings and symposia focusing on the music and the
film’s portrayal of it. Organizations interested in African American and Chinese
American heritage will be similarly approached, as will those which are
concerned with keeping New York’s artistic legacy alive.
The film will be submitted to numerous film festivals, particularly those
specializing in films that stylistically “push the envelope” or that focus on
music (e.g., Austin Film & Music Festival). Throughout this phase we will look
for domestic theatrical distribution and foreign sale opportunities. In Europe
and Japan, for instance, interest in American jazz remains very high.
A soundtrack album will be released simultaneously with the film, featuring what
promises to be a Who’s Who of younger jazz talent. This kind of synergy was
tested successfully when I was a producer at the public television series “City
Arts” (produced by the Great Performances division of Thirteen/WNET). While
working on a piece called “New Faces in Jazz,” I helped to organize a shoot
featuring several musicians from the Blue Note label at the Sweet Basil club
(now Sweet Rhythms). The musicians enjoyed playing with each other so much that
they went on to tour and record an album together, released under the banner of
“The Blue Note All-Stars.”
Sequences from the film and other footage shot on its behalf will be repurposed
into artful music videos, to be released virally and on YouTube, as well as
offered free to broadcasters.
Following its festival and theatrical life, we will try to get the film aired on
independent film channels like Sundance and IFC, or alternatively on PBS,
possibly under its “Great Performances” umbrella.
Talent
Director/Writer/Producer – Douglas Chang has spent much of his career bridging
the worlds of public television and independent film. He produced, directed and
co-wrote the narrative feature film Absent Father, about “a typical teenage girl
who gets impregnated by God, only to find He never seems to be around when she
needs Him.” The film premiered at the Dhaka International Film Festival in 2008
and was nominated for best feature at the Religion Today Film Festival in Trento
and Rome, Italy. He has also played an integral role on two PBS programs: “P.O.V.”,
the acclaimed documentary series; and “City Arts,” a groundbreaking art and
culture series, where he worked with some of the world’s most prominent artists.
From 2001 to 2003, he served as programming director for KCET, the flagship PBS
station in Los Angeles, reaching the second largest public television market in
the United States.
Doug has also contributed to numerous documentaries as a writer, producer and/or
unit director, including the recent films “Latinos ’08,” “The Jewish People: A
Story of Survival,” and “Jerusalem: Center of the World,” all broadcast
nationally on PBS. He has acted as an advisor on many more.
Composer & Arranger/”Sax” – Stacy Dillard has been described by Ben Ratliff of
The New York Times as “a young saxophonist of serious promise” and by trumpeter
Roy Hargrove as “a one-of-a-kind musician”; while Wynton Marsalis simply says of
him, “This MF can play.” In addition to leading three bands of his own, he
recently appeared as a featured guest with Cyrus Chestnut at Dizzy’s Club, and
has played with such artists as Hargrove, Clark Terry, Billy Taylor, Mulgrew
Miller, John Hicks, Wycliffe Gordon and Stevie Wonder. He will serve as one of
our lead composers and as our key musical advisor, helping us to secure a
stellar lineup of jazz talent. He will also play the central role of “Sax” in
the film.
Composer/“Piano” – Eric Reed began playing the piano at age two and was
performing in his father’s Baptist church in Philadelphia by age five. Dubbed
“one of the top pianists of his generation” by AllMusic Guide and described as
“one of my very favorite pianists” by Ahmad Jamal, his credits include
performances with Wynton Marsalis, Jessye Norman, Quincy Jones and Patti
Labelle, among others. His musical ventures include over 20 recordings as a
leader, including his latest recording, “Stand!,”; scoring for Eddie Murphy’s
comedy, “Life”; and musical direction for the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater. Currently Reed is in residence with the Ebony Repertory Theatre of Los
Angeles, as musical director of Regina Taylor's “Crowns.”
Executive Producer – Ronald Tikofsky, Ph.D. serves on the board of the Jazz
Foundation of America. When he is not playing the saxophone or working to
further the appreciation of jazz, he specializes in speech pathology and
neurology at Harlem Hospital and Columbia Medical Center in New York City.
Advisor – Hank O’Neal has, over the span of a forty-year career in music,
founded two record companies, produced over 200 jazz LPs/CDs and (with business
partner Shelley Shier) presented over 100 music festivals. Having known and
befriended many of the jazz world’s leading lights, he has advised Clint
Eastwood on “Bird” and Charlotte Zwerin on the Thelonious Monk documentary,
“Straight, No Chaser.” He also serves on the boards of various non-profit
organizations serving the jazz community. Hank will advise us on the music and
its club scene and will help facilitate our further contact with others who
might take a meaningful interest in the film.
Among many other accomplishments, Hank is also a distinguished photographer
whose photos of jazz greats are celebrated the world over.
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