Upon being released from prison after murdering a music-industry mobster, a jazz saxophonist searches for his mentor while trying to reunite his band. The allegorical narrative works to define jazz as the musical expression of the Black experience, with its African roots and its American battles with appropriation and exploitation. The film also leaves plenty of time for the music itself, from the onscreen appearances by Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra to the performances by Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Sun Ra on the soundtrack. By combining music, allegory and analysis, Passing Through has achieved canonical status as one of the few great jazz films.