I recently rewatched this film. Previously I'd checked it out at the library and the disc was so scratched as to be unwatchable. Then I bought the Criterion collection boxed set and have procrastinated about finishing it ever since. I love these boxed sets because it is like committing to reading every book by a particular author. Watching the artist mature through their work. The extras on the disc are marvelous, so some of the juiciest bits were quite buried in the mix. In a photo gallery of the recording sessions of the soundtrack, there are some great anecdotes about Charles Mingus. I've read Mingus' memoit "Beneath the underdog" and am quite familiar with his temperament and his music.
I guess Cassavettes contacted him to do the music and he took months to do just a few minutes of the score. He asked Cassavettes to send some people over to clean up the cat *** in his studio. He couldn't work with all this cat *** on the floor. So Cassavettes dutifully came over and cleaned up the cat ***. The next time he contacted Mingus, he couldn't work without the cat *** and was waiting for the cats to *** all over the place again. Great stuff.
Mingus went on a notorious bender to Tijiuna that inspired some great music, but this was just as Shadow's was in it's final polish and they needed some more music. The saxophonist agreed to do it for some quick cash. He asked Cassavettes to tell him the story of his life so he could blow it out his horn. There are some great pictures of Cassavettes dancing around and generally making an ass of himself while the saxophonist blows for all he has.
It's that joyous creative outpouring that coats this film. The whole effort seems doused in that excitement. The acting is often quite bad, but hey, it hardly matters. The film is a document of a great man and what he inspired in those around him.
The documentary of the film's restoration is also quite interesting if you're into that kind of thing. I've grown quite interested in it myself as I've become vaguely involved in a film restoration project myself. What a painstaking labor of love it seems. A sort of filmic archaeology with a healthy whiff of vinegar.