Swiss filmmaker Sophie Huber offers jazz and hip hop lovers a treasure. In "Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes" the audience is given the in-depth history of the iconic record label, Blue Note Records and a daring, bold and beautiful look at jazz and its evolution into hip hop.
This documentary speaks volumes about how two people with a dream can make a difference in the art community that has an impact on the world. It's about how two Jewish men from Germany came to America and started a record company for their love of jazz. Behind this documentary is love, pure and simple. The founders never intended to make a hit record for the sake of making a hit, they just wanted to make a good record that they would enjoy listening to.
With interviews from Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Wayne Shorter, Nora Jones, Ambrose Akinmusire, and many other historic and contemporary jazz figures, we are taken to a place where jazz transports us emotionally, spiritually, historically and even politically. It's about how art can sometimes clash with commerce.
Herbie Hancock talks about his experience working with record label founders Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff. He said, "I never got a sense of pressure from them to create in any particular way other than whatever might come out of me. What they were searching for was to get the heart of the individuals creating the music to have a platform for expression and that heart is affected by the times...because we were living in it."
Jazz becomes something bigger--it is about cultural heritage, human rights and the pursuit of freedom. It's about black America.
Like saxophonist Marcus Strickland says when speaking about the record label, "those artists reflect the times and what's going on. As soon as I put on the record, I'm transported to a certain time or a certain feeling or a certain understanding of the world."
No matter what time we're in, jazz has a profound effect and can get at the heart of our humanity and the struggles of our times. As Herbie Hancock aptly said when speaking about the purpose of the label, "they [the founders] were trying to support the goal which we were always seeking which is to allow the music to emerge without being shackled."
Rating: A
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