John Medeski

Many many words have been written and a few ingenious TV documentaries have been filmed about the great Russian rock band Auktyon, which recently celebrated 30 years of playing music. Everything is completely different in the case of the film Encore: it took seven years for the director, Dmitry Lavrinenko, to make it; he needed just that amount of time to capture the wayward grace still preserved by Fyodorov, Garkusha, Ozersky and their associates. If you look behind the powerful music facade, you find not a story of a band but chronicles of a voyage aimed at incredible, incomparable music. Encore shows how the songs which are now known by heart were composed; it also shows things generally left aside: pieces of everyday life, tour diaries, conversations, including the key phrase: "You should not look at the liberty too much, you might feel dizzy.

Inside Scofield is a feature documentary about master guitarist and touring musician John Scofield.

It took nine years to create two feature films. They were conceived as a movie-diptych about Leonid Fedorov and a group of musicians formed around him.

A rare peek into the working methods of John Zorn. Filmed over a ten year period, this documentary includes live footage of Masada, Naked City, Cobra, as well as improvisations, his classical work and rare interviews. A prize winner at European festivals, this film documents Heuermann's very personal, fifteen year odyssey with the music of John Zorn.

Gatling Pictures' "Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story" examines the life and work of Mark Sandman, deceased frontman of Boston "low rock" band Morphine. From his Newton, Mass., roots to his travels across America and around the globe, Sandman left an indelible imprint as one of the most distinctive musicians of his generation. Along with revisiting the "unique and sultry sound" of his music, the film explores the meaning of family through this critically praised and personally conflicted singer, songwriter and innovative instrumentalist.

Familiar faces at Cully following their previous appearances, John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood, who have completely redefined the musical possibilities of the jazz trio, are back this year for a sound explosion. With an exemplary career over more than 20 years, the three colorful New Yorkers have made groove their watchword and adventurous performance their playground. With a collective communication that borders on telepathy they deliver legendary concerts, offering themselves to the audience in a brilliant, instinctive style. From funk gimmicks to blues phrasing they make every musical reference their own in this concert, which is performed in company with that great guitarist Nels Cline, who is equally at ease with a John Coltrane number or when playing with the alternative rock band Wilco.

"Go Further" explores the idea that the single individual is the key to large-scale transformational change. The film follows actor Woody Harrelson as he takes a small group of friends on a bio-fueled bus-ride down the Pacific Coast Highway. Their goal? To show the people they encounter that there are viable alternatives.

Eighty-eight year old Lee Shaw, proudly known as Albany, New York's Queen of Jazz, has lived a diverse, accomplished, and charmed life. From the piano bench Lee has bravely struggled with not only being a woman in a male dominated field, but with the financial challenges that come with pursuing a dream, and the conflict of her sharp musical mind's residence in an ever aging vessel. Her story is one of passion and triumph, which she attributes to her love of the 88's.