KO-KO
1988, 3:29. Based on the title and music of Charlie Parker, including Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. Recorded, 1945.
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Swirling bits of commercial ads, shredded prints, cartoons, and abstractions, dance above a continually buzzing turmoil of black and white beans. Bird’s blistering BeBop improvisation became the clarion call for jazz in the mid-20th Century. The music ends almost abruptly as he smiles briefly to light and inhale his cigarette. The original music exists only on audio tape. The live views of Parker are hand-colored copies of excerpts shot for another film. The music is not demonstrated by composition or technique. It must be imagined by the viewer as an animated film.
Many animators have learned the importance of improvisation rather than following any of the many prescribed techniques. It has a life of its own.
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