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13-22 November

Jazz on Screen: John Coltrane, Soundtracking Cinema: Mo' Better Blues 15

Jazz on Screen: John Coltrane, Soundtracking Cinema: Mo' Better Blues 15

Sun 15 November 2026

Stage time / 2:00pm

Location

Barbican Cinema 3,
Barbican Centre
Silk Street
London
EC2Y 8DS

Tickets

£15.50 incl fees

Coinciding with the centenary of John Coltrane, this programme brings together three very different films which draw on both the music and legacy of the legendary musician.

Starting with Soul On Ice by Afro-Brazilian pioneer Zózimo Bulbul, who dedicated his film to Coltrane and uses the 1965 free-jazz piece Kulu Se Mama to guide his reflections on Brazilian history. Melvonna Ballenger’s Rain (Nyesha), associated with the foundational LA Rebellion movement, uses After the Rain as the soundtrack to this poetic black-and-white short, centring on a young woman's reflections on life and politics.

The centrepiece is Spike Lee’s mammoth Mo’ Better Blues, originally titled A Love Supreme, Lee’s film follows trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) and his trials and tribulations trying to establish himself as a jazz great, amidst his increasingly chaotic lifestyle. The climax of the film draws from Coltrane's masterpiece and infuses his film with A Love Supreme’s themes of spiritual awakening in the face of overcoming demons and addiction.

Soul in the Eye (Alma no Olho)
, Zózimo Bulbul, 1973, Brazil, 11 mins

Rain (Nyesha), Melvonna Ballenger, 1978, USA, 16 mins

Mo’ Better Blues, Spike Lee, 1990, USA, 129 mins

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