Music for Black Pigeons

Jørgen Leth, who made The Five Obstructions with Lars von Tier in 2003, is a veteran of Danish cinema who has mainly made experimental documentaries. He made his debut back in 1963 with a short documentary on the American pianist Bud Powell (Stopforbud). Over forty films later, the now 85-year-old Leth focuses his camera on the jazz world again. For Music for Black Pigeons, directed together with Andreas Koefoed, the two followed guitarist and composer Jakob Bro for fourteen years. An impressive parade of fellow musicians pass by, from Lee Konitz to Bill Frisell. We see them searching for that magical moment when all the pieces of the puzzle fall together and wonderful music emerges. We also hear them trying to answer the question what it means to express yourself through the universal language of music.

“The film poses existential questions to influential jazz players such as Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Midori Takada and many others: how does it feel to play, and what does it mean to listen? What is it like to be a human being and spending your whole life trying to express something through sounds?”- La Biennale