Synopsis
The personality and talent of Ben Webster, the American saxophonist living in Amsterdam, have deeply marked the filmmaker Johan van der Keuken. A living legend of jazz and blues, he is a man of violence and gentleness, generosity and anguish. Filming the man’s relationship with music, van der Keuken captures the hidden strength of the musician, who died six years later.
A word from Tënk
By 1967, Van der Keuken had already made some of his best film, and “Big Ben” is in the same vein. At the time, his films were non-synchronous. Filming music or along the music is something he would do all of his life, but here, it is the one that concerns him most: jazz. It had already inspired “Blind Child” with Archie Shepp and “A Film for Lucebert” with Coltrane and Willem Breuker, with whom he would work throughout his life. But here’s Ben Webster, the iconic saxophonist. Recently arrived in Holland, the legendary jazz player was at his peak. One will notice in this film how Van der Keuken sets his sounds to his images, and particularly in which freedom of form he develops his sound writing. Like many of his films, this one is a model that, were it be necessary to prove it, shows that the lack of synchronicity fosters cinematic poetry.
Daniel Deshays
Sound Engineer
