Music For Black Pigeons

After 14 years of filming/recording some of today’s most influential musicians, the music from Andreas Koefoed’s and Jørgen Leth’s celebrated film “Music For Black Pigeons” is now available for the first time (vinyl only). The soundtrack is based on compositions by Jakob Bro, performed by Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Craig Taborn, Paul Motian, Andrew Cyrille, Arve Henriksen, Midori Takada and many others.

Venice Film Festival title “Music for Black Pigeons,” directed by Danish filmmakers Jørgen Leth, best known for “The Five Obstructions,” and “The Lost Leonardo” helmer Andreas Koefoed, is available now worldwide. The documentary, which premieres on in Venice’s Out of Competition section, explores the lives and processes of some of the world’s most renowned and prolific jazz musicians, including Jakob Bro, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian and Midori Takada.

The footage in “Music for Black Pigeons” was shot over the course of 14 years, throughout North America, Europe and Japan. From the hours of recordings, Leth and Koefoed discovered intimate, improvised moments between pioneers of experimental music at recording spaces in New York, Copenhagen and Lugano. Unpredictable live jams are interspersed with brief, illuminating portraits of those taking part, such as jazz saxophonist Mark Turner, double bassist Thomas Morgan, jazz drummers Joey Baron and Andrew Cyrille, trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg, the prolific founder of ECM Records, Manfred Eicher, and many more. The film includes some of the final recorded performances of several musicians who died during the course of filming, including Lee Konitz, Jon Christensen, Tomasz Stanko and Paul Motian.

Leth said: “With this kind of music, you have to follow the natural development of ideas. That’s important. You have to capture these spontaneous moments and pay attention to the characters, to what they are saying to each other. It’s not something that’s fixed from the start. It takes shape while you are filming. The most important thing was to follow the process, I guess. That’s what we do in the film. We see how it develops, how it grows and takes shape. How single words start to form whole sentences and meanings.”

Koefoed, whose art thriller “The Lost Leonardo” premiered at Tribeca 2021, added: “We found out that when musicians had difficulties with putting music into words, the final result was always very interesting. It just proved that music is something that can’t be just boiled down to one simple formula. People who were able to immediately explain exactly what they were doing were also… a bit boring. When they had difficulties, it felt as if they were trying to approach something mythical that maybe shouldn’t be even approached.”

Buy directly from the artist: http://shop.jakobbro.com

Tracklist below:

Side A:

1. No good (Lee Konitz)
2. Returnings (Compostion by Palle Mikkelborg & Jakob Bro. Performed by Palle Mikkelborg, Jakob Bro, Thomas Morgan & Jon Christensen. Courtesy ECM Records)
3. Laxness & Red Hook (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Mark Turner)
4. Dug (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Jesper Zeuthen, Anders Christenen & Marilyn Mazur)
5. I’m an improvisor (Lee Konitz)
6. Laxness (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Lee Konitz, Craig Taborn, Bill Frisell, Jakob Bro & Thomas Morgan)
7. Morning Song, acoustic guitar (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Jakob Bro)

Side B: 

1. Sig Nærmer Tiden (Composition by Oluf Ring. Performed by Palle Mikkelborg)
2. Momentary Brooklyn (Composed and performed by Bill Frisell)
3. Sound Creation & Metamorphism (Compositions by Jakob Bro. Performed by Joe Lovano, Jakob Bro, Anders Christensen, Larry Grenadier, Thomas Morgan, Joey Baron & Jorge Rossy. Sound Creation Courtesy of ECM Records)
4. TAN-THEJAH ”タンテヤ–  ビルマの古謡による“ based on the Burmese folk song “ (Composed and performed by Midori Takada)
5. Oktober (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Palle Mikkelborg & Søren Kjærgaard)
6. Mild (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Thomas Morgan, Joey Baron & Jakob Bro)
7. How Do You Feel When You Play? (Thomas Morgan)

Side C:

1. Playing Music Is So Many Things (Thomas Morgan)
2. Song For Nicolai (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Palle Mikkelborg, Jakob Bro, Thomas Morgan & Jon Christensen)
3. Tell Me To Go Fuck Myself (Paul Motian)
4. Terrace Place (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Ben Street & Jakob Bro)
5. Orb (Composed and performed by Larry Grenadier)
6. A Pause is a Pause (Manfred Eicher)
7. To Stanko (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Arve Henriksen, Jorge Rossy & Jakob Bro. Courtesy of ECM Records)
8. Prelude & Variations “プレリュードと変奏曲 — 芦川聡の思い出に“  – for the memories of Satoshi Ashikawa  (Composed by Midori Takada based on the theme of Satoshi Ashikawa’s Prelude)

Side D:

1. Pierre Boulez Saal Suite (Composed and performed by Midori Takada & Jakob Bro)
2. Metamorphism (Composed by Jakob Bro. Performed by Andrew Cyrille)
3. Copenhagen (Composed by Jakob Bro. Performed by Mark Turner, Andrew Cyrille, Thomas Morgan & Jakob Bro)
4. My First Saxophone (Lee Konitz)
5. Starting Point (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell & Jakob Bro)
6. Story about Music For Black Pigeons (Jakob Bro)
7. Morning Song (Composition by Jakob Bro. Performed by Arve Henriksen, Jorge Rossy & Jakob Bro. Courtesy of ECM Records)