Jazz on Film: The Cool World

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the Jazz on Film screening series.

Organized by guest curator Peter Lucas, Jazz on Film includes classic and rare performance films made from the 1920s-1950s presented by jazz film archivist Mark Cantor; a 60th anniversary screening of Otto Preminger’s classic The Man with the Golden Arm; Shirley Clarke’s gritty Harlem story The Cool World, and the 1970 documentary film Jack Johnson featuring a score by Miles Davis.

The Cool World

Directed by Shirley Clarke
1964, USA, B/W
104 minutes, 16mm

Filmed in Harlem with non-professional actors, Clarke’s second feature is a powerful slice of urban life in the early 1960s.

The film follows 15-year-old Duke and his street gang, the Royal Pythons. Although the film was scripted, the improvisations of both its actors and its black-and-white cinematography place the fiction within a cinematic document of unflinching realism.

The film’s music was composed by pianist Mal Waldron and performed by a quintet featuring Dizzy Gillespie.

Independent curator Peter Lucas has created exhibitions, film series, and public programs in association with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, The Menil Collection, Aurora Picture Show, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle International Film Festival, and Experience Music Project.

Houston Press named him Best Curator in 2012 and 2013. Lucas is also an active artist, with an upcoming gallery show at Art League Houston and a film and installation project being created as part of Rice University’s Space Arts Initiative.