SUSTAIN: Black Histories/ Black Futures

About this event

SUSTAIN: BLACK HISTORIES/ BLACK FUTURES
SUN, FEBRUARY 2 at 2:30PM

This free afternoon-long screening features documentary-style portraits of jazz greats Jackie McLean and Alice Coltrane alongside Sun Ra’s sci-fi odyssey, exploring themes of music, spirituality, education, and Black liberation. 

Jackie McLean on Mars (1979)
Jackie McLean on Mars explores the life and career of alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, focusing on his impactful teaching at the University of Hartford in the mid-1970s. The documentary captures McLean’s passion as an educator and the challenges faced by jazz musicians of the era. Featuring candid footage of him practicing, performing with his quintet, and teaching, the film highlights his lectures on topics like Sun Ra, JFK’s assassination, and mastering Coltrane’s Giant Steps. (Runtime: 32 minutes)

Black Journal, episode 26: Alice Coltrane (1970)
In this intimate portrait—produced for a segment of National Education Television’s “Black Journal” television program—legendary jazz musician Alice Coltrane plays the harp and discusses her thoughts on music, spirituality, family, and the legacy of her late husband, John Coltrane. (Runtime: 17 minutes)

Space Is the Place (1974)
Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, in which the pharaonic Ra and his Arkestra lead an intergalactic movement to resettle the Black race on their utopian space colony. (Runtime: 85 minutes)

Co-sponsored by MDOCS (John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative).

This event is free and open to the public. No ticket required.