[8] The film’s score, arranged by Horace Tapscott, features music by Eric Dolphy, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Sun Ra, as well as a live performance by the Pan African Peoples Arkestra.
[9] When Clark made a personal appearance at a retrospective of his work at The Museum of Modern Art in 2022, he was asked why Passing Through could only be seen through theatrical exhibitions.
[1] Screenings for Passing Through typically come from a 16mm print[11] or from a DCP made from a digital preservation courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
"[12] Brody also praised the opening sequence as "a montage of musical creation, featuring multiple exposures of a vigorously modern group seen in mood-rich tones of blue and red; the rapid fingering of a saxophone and the angular athleticism of drumming are superimposed to give visual identity to the music’s rhythms.
The sequence fuses documentary and impressionism, recording and transformation, while also crowning its painterly energy with yet another rhythmic red light that’s a part of the jazz life: a rotating one atop a police car.
He uses those distinctions to telegraph the mood of the characters and story, combining original music with excerpts from classic jazz recordings.