One of the most enjoyable spin-offs of reviewing concerts is that sometimes they can send you down a delightful rabbit hole – all in the name of research or backgrounding.

This is just what happens when jazz saxophonist and composer Phillip Johnstone presents Puffs of Smoke, his fascinating survey of early Australian silent movies in a free balloted concert at one of Judith Neilson’s Phoenix Central Park arts spaces, The Church in Alexandria, Sydney.

American-born Johnstone has lived here for 20 years and his music is strongly linked to cinema. Since 1993, he has composed and performed scores for silent films by French, Japanese, German and American directors, but for his latest project he has chosen what he calls “an Aladdin’s cave” of early Australian short and animated cartoons from the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA).

Improvising live on his alto sax he plays over a pre-recorded track featuring percussion, overlays, loops and samples, introducing each piece with background on the history...