Animation and Jazz

November 10, 2007 9:13 PM

Disney doesn't have a stranglehold on jazz and animation. Michal Levy has, using geometric shapes, created animation to John Coltrane's Giant Steps.

She has also created a new work, entitled One. Think AVS, but different. And she's not the only one to combine music with animation. Meet Emmanuel Ho and his Owl (very slow download, but worth the wait). Jazz has touched many of us. Not enough visual goodness for you? Read about it all at jazz: animated.

posted by ashbury (22 comments total)

The Giant Steps animation is a double, I'm sure of it. But the rest of this stuff is cool.
posted by dismas at 9:17 PM on November 10, 2007

The best animated jazz ever: "Begone Dull Care."
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:28 PM on November 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure that when Coltrane was improvising those gorgeous cadenzas he was, in fact, thinking about promo shorts for real estate firms.
posted by felix betachat at 9:34 PM on November 10, 2007 [3 favorites]

Wow. Neat stuff. Owl is a wonderful little animated snapshot, and One is nice eye and ear candy, too. I'd love to see something that uses Levy's shapes and adds just a teensy bit more narrative - like, keeps it abstract but adds just a few more slightly developed hints at story.

Cool post, thanks.
posted by mediareport at 9:37 PM on November 10, 2007

Let's not forget Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries :

Cunnilingus in North Korea

Samsung

and my favorite:
Operation Nukorea
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:38 PM on November 10, 2007

Double? I could have sworn I saw a different visual representation of Giant Steps last year, but damned if I can find it.
posted by kozad at 10:46 PM on November 10, 2007

And don't forget METABLAST.
posted by homunculus at 10:52 PM on November 10, 2007

And don't forget METABLAST.

Ha! I'd forgotten about that.
posted by juv3nal at 10:58 PM on November 10, 2007

One is excellent. Thanks!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:09 PM on November 10, 2007

Double?... damned if I can find it.

It was in March 2005. Still a great thing to watch the second time around...
posted by lelilo at 11:12 PM on November 10, 2007

You might also like the work of Oskar Fischinger, the great avant garde animator. You're going to have to pay to watch any of his really good stuff: his estate has decided (probably wisely, since low res doesn't suit his work well at all) to keep his films off the web.

Also, this thing was linked from Fuzzy Monster's Begone Dull Care. It's hideous yet oddly abstract itself. Do calve muscles really look like inverted triangles? Just... gah.
posted by maryh at 1:23 AM on November 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

For visual representations of Coltrane, I think it's hard to beat Chris Raschka. (not animated)
posted by Jeanne at 3:59 AM on November 11, 2007

> And don't forget METABLAST.

Scathing indictment of Delmoi, there.
posted by ardgedee at 6:20 AM on November 11, 2007

You can purchase a Fischinger DVD here.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:29 AM on November 11, 2007

I cannot find the "Giant Steps Explained" flash-video anywhere. I think it's gone from the interents. Was that the one you're thinking of, kozad? With the triangles inside triangles on kind of a brown/beige background?
posted by Eideteker at 6:53 AM on November 11, 2007

The most influential jazz animation to my upbringing would be Three Little Bops

There's also a great blog called jazz::animated that covers a lot of great animators and illustrators who were jazz influenced.
posted by durin at 7:32 AM on November 11, 2007

What, durin, you mean the blog that's linked in the post above?!?
posted by jonson at 8:16 AM on November 11, 2007

his estate has decided (probably wisely, since low res doesn't suit his work well at all) to keep his films off the web

I don't know if I'd call that wise so much as ridiculously controlling, given that they don't make the *one* DVD they've released so far available through Netflix, either. Seems an utterly shameful way to "preserve" Fischinger's legacy.
posted by mediareport at 10:42 AM on November 11, 2007

kozad:

Here is a visual representation of the key changes. Also an old mefi thread.
posted by mai at 11:02 AM on November 11, 2007

Yes, mai. That was it. Thanks. I'm still not sure I can do justice to the song, even after trying for two or three decades, but who knows, a little visual representation might leak over into whatever connections my brain is making with my fingers...
posted by kozad at 11:57 AM on November 11, 2007

Fischinger-animated funk-punk: Liquid Liquid's Cavern (u2b).

Spanish, home-animated noize-jazz: 12twelve's Autobahn Polizei (30mb .avi; by the band's drummer, Javier García).

Italian electro-brass: Corleone (aka Roy Paci) ft. Mike Patton Tutto Diventerà Rosso (myspaz; by Bulba).

and, erm..., does Rockit count?
posted by progosk at 2:12 PM on November 11, 2007

hmm, yep. sure enough that one.
posted by durin at 7:31 PM on November 11, 2007