Pianist Jason Moran, guitarist Marvin Sewell and the San Francisco Philharmonia bring Moran's spirited score to director Ava DuVernay's Academy Award-winning film Selma to life with this exclusive screening. DuVernay portrays the preternatural bravery and definace of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights, a defining moment for the civil rights movement. Tapped to create a score for the 2014 film, Moran captured the tension and drama surrounding the march, events that played out in public and frenetic behind-the-scenes negotiations at the highest level of government.
Crafting a striking orchestral work laced with the blues, Moran wrote themes that seemed to breathe with the film, somber, thoughtful, and redolent of the South. He and guitarist Marvin Sewell, a roots-to-avant-garde string wizrd, accompany two screenings of Selma with the San Francisco Philharmonia conducted by Sarah Hicks, offering an immersive experience of an inordinately powerful film. The score joins an impressive experience of an inordinately powerful film. The score joines an impressive gallery of projects Moran has brought to SFJAZZ Center in recent years, including the world premiere of Jazz + Skateboarding, Fats Waller Dance Party, Monk at Town Hall, and the companion piece on this run, The Harlem Hellfighters: James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin.