The final film by avant-garde documentarian Shirley Clarke, Ornette: Made in America is an unconventional portrait of a truly singular artist. Rather than a chronological history of acclaimed saxophonist and free-jazz innovator Ornette Coleman, this is a mixture of performance, interviews and experimental music videos that mirrors his iconoclastic approach to life. Ornette returns to his hometown of Forth Worth, Texas— once a deeply segregated southern city, now home to a thriving Black community— to perform at the opening of the legendary Caravan of Dreams nightclub and arts centre. Along the way he ruminates on his practice, with interludes from fellow eccentrics like William S. Burroughs and Yoko Ono, reflecting on a life as a cultural pioneer who witnessed and provoked radical change.

Ornette: Made in America is a beautiful synthesis of form and subject, a freewheeling exploration of a one of a kind artist that gives a glimpse of the world through his eyes. Clarke had been working with Coleman since the late 1960s, gathering footage piecemeal for a project that took form over the decades. Her background as a dancer and choreographer led her to develop a unique abstract expressionist approach to filmmaking, based around rhythmic editing and kaleidoscopic imagery. Clarke had a close association with the jazz scene in New York City that introduced her to the musicians she would return to time and again throughout her career, and her long collaboration with Coleman allows for an incredibly intimate look into a vibrant world.