The Cool World

‘Inspired by a sermon delivered by a Black Muslim preacher proclaiming the superiority of the Black man, the young Duke attempts to consolidate his position of power within a street gang. Like other films by Shirley Clarke, The Cool World comes across as an improvised ‘fictional documentary’ (the later documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman served as producer here) and is underpinned by jazz music. It is a major work of the New Realism of the early 1960s, influenced by the Beat movement. Clarke: ‘The Hollywood powers that be were astounded by the realism of my film. When they asked me how I’d achieved this extraordinary realism, I simply replied: ‘It wasn’t particularly difficult to make Harlem look like Harlem.’” (Christoph Huber)

‘The music for The Cool World was composed and, in part, performed by Mal Waldron (…). From the very start, it’s like rolling thunder: Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet playing in the opening theme possesses a spontaneous power that arises in the moment, embodying ‘coolness’ precisely in the absence of calm and pushing the boundaries of blues-soaked hard bop until they give way. Yet it is the way in which the music then harmonises the film’s numerous emotional developments that carries the album impressively forward beyond the opening sequence.” (Nate Patrin, theshfl.com)