It Must Schwing: The Bluenote Story
Directed by Eric Friedler
Germany | 2018 | Documentary | 115 min
English, German w/ English subtitles
Film Source: Studio Hamburg
Sponsors: Lisa Schamberg and Pat Robins
Followed by Q&A with Reuben Jackson
Blue Note Records has produced some of the most famous albums in jazz history: Thelonious Monk’s Genius of Modern Music, John Coltrane’s Blue Train and Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, to name just a few. But less well known is the story of the record label’s founding, in 1939, by German Jewish refugees Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, who immigrated to the United States to escape Nazi persecution. The empathy between the Jewish jazz aficionados and African American musicians facing a different form of racism forms the core of It Must Schwing – The Blue Note Story, a documentary that combines expressionistic animated sequences with interviews with veteran Blue Note artists, including Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Ron Carter and Sheila Jordan. With a soundtrack featuring more than 30 classic Blue Note cuts and insightful segments on Rudy Van Gelder’s engineering wizardry and Wolff’s striking album-cover photography, It Must Schwing is a jazz lover’s dream that also serves as an excellent introduction to the art form’s most distinguished record label. ~LB
