- Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes
- Directed by: Sophie Huber
- Starring: Don Was, Lou Donaldson, Robert Glasper, Rudy Van Gelder, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock
- Classification: PG
- 86 minutes
In the important new documentary Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes, we see the liner notes to the 1958 John Coltrane album Blue Train. Words – education, freedom, etc. – get to the legacy of the Blue Note jazz label.
“[Coltrane] is able to experiment while on the stand," wrote Robert Levin, "with no fear of being called down and with a good chance of being congratulated.” It’s about music, yes, but the label and this film concern more: Life-lessons, collaboration, open-minded attitudes and the value of submitting to the now.
Swiss director Sophie Huber documents an era and its significant be-bopping people (Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Art Blakey and saxophonist Coltrane), while celebrating the records that, in the words of Herbie Hancock, “caught their humanity.”
Modern players such as Robert Glasper explain the transition from jazz to hip hop. It comes down to the artistic and social struggles involved with making music that is of its time and place. And while those Blue Note album covers of the seriously cool past have a vintage look, some things should never get old.
Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes opens March 29 at Toronto’s Hot Docs Cinema
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