It is gratifying to first meet the Sachal Jazz Ensemble members at home on their own turf in Lahore. It is not easy for them. The introduction of Sharia law made music forbidden, necessitating practice in soundproof rooms. (A shot of an unrelated public whipping tells us all we need know about the overall repressive atmosphere.) Restrictions toward music have since softened, but Pakistan is hardly the place for unbridled musical freedom, or any other kind.

We see and hear the interesting musicians playing their assorted traditional instruments, and they are quite a contingent, carrying forward a cultural heritage. For music lovers, their skill and dedication offer special interest.

More widely discovered, they are invited to New York to perform in concert with Marsalis and his band. The film becomes particularly fascinating at that point when the Pakistanis must integrate with the New York group. Marsalis is seen as a hard but understanding taskmaster trying to overcome the problem of getting everyone on the same musical page. One visiting musician has to be dropped and replaced.

But as a viewer might hope for and expect, all comes together at the big moment of the concert and the result is both enlightening and entertaining. The fusion of the experts on their own instruments, such as the sitar, with the snappy Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra results in gratifying, crowd-pleasing musical unity.

It was enterprising of directors Schocken and Obaid-Chinoy to shoot in Pakistan with the conviction that they were onto material for an adventurous film. Their foresight proves to having been smart when we see the result in New York.