In a way, this is a film about the layers of artistic endeavors on the edge of the mainstream. Fontaine was certainly not a major filmmaker, but he was known on the festival circuit and edged towards that direction. Roland Kirk (as he was known at the time) was a major star in the Jazz realm, and played around the world, but he was certainly out there, and his flavor of avant garde Jazz was miles ahead of, well, Miles Ahead. John Cage would become, and by 1967, was pretty much already, the only name in avant garde art music that you could count on your average joe music fan being able to name. And he's reading philosophy.
It's a fascinating film to watch as it was a heady time for experimentation, especially in Jazz as we had yet to enter into the age of fusion. Cage was still doing remarkable work,and here we hear a touch of it, but it is a film starring the performance of Kirk, but featuring the thoughts of Cage.