Documentary Film Review “The Best Of The Best: Jazz From Detroit” The history, the heartbeat, the humanity in one city’s enduring musical legacy
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
A sound of music. We hear notes, cadences, choirs, instruments, voices, and everything we normally equate with the entire overall notion of what makes music come alive. It moves us, takes us to new places when we let it, transports us through the annals of time via the kaleidoscopic vastness of its stylistic variances, moods, tones, and textures, absorbed into our being as we listen. Yet, what is it to truly comprehend the IMPACT said noun actually represents when we look at one particular form…..jazz.
In the Midwest of the United States, there is the city of Detroit, MI. Within its complex and storied (for good and, sadly, sometimes ill) past, there arose what would become a juggernaut of musical prowess and unmatched influence. Made up of those who, at the time, were still not fully accepted yet as equals, even in the North, the stalwart, proud, and newly burgeoning Black community birthed the absolute wonder that is jazz music. And with its inception and growth would manifest a genre what would redefine a city’s, and then the world’s, euphonic landscape.
Next, my Mind:
First off, plain and simple, THIS is documentary filmmaking at its finest. As a film critic, I’ve always been challenged quite a bit by this filmmaking form, as the fashion of film this represents as a grander whole is SO overtly reliant on not JUST presenting what we hope will be an engaging subject matter, but then taking said topic and orchestrating the dissemination of the information explored in a manner that will immerse the viewer from start to finish with consistent captivation, doing so with the precise amount of runtime that allows fullness without fatigue. So, admittedly, I was a LITTLE cautious when I saw this was a 90-minute effort, as that is a LOT of space to fill with this kind of effort as opposed to a narrative-driven feature. But, as my initial statement here indicated, not only was this project of initial interest, but ended up being an amazing tour-de-force of utterly vibrant, wholly fascinating, and musically adept lessons about a city…and humanity.
Brought about by director/producer/editor Daniel Loewenthal, writer/co-producer Mark Stryker, producer Roberta Friedman, and associate producer Helen Chu Usadel, the film wastes NONE of its time providing one of the most in depth and beautifully crafted perspectives of jazz music’s onset, and soon MASSIVE, ONGOING influence, centered in Detroit through the heydays and mayhem that the city experienced. With foundations in everything from the church to the ghettos, but ALL within the prolifically talented Black community, the creative arc that the blues established gave way to the more sophisticated elements that would form jazz and its distinct sound. It was about raw passion, that melting pot of artistry, and how it would end up commanding the attention it did as Detroit turned into the hub of jazz it became.
Through the emergence of the auto industry that brought Blacks northward from the South seeking better opportunities, and in spite of still facing segregation to boot, the formation of Black Bottom, and its subsequent business and entertainment center Paradise Valley, lead the way for Black artists to explore and expand on their musical ideologies, which soon expanded beyond the borders of these areas and attracted the attention of Whites as well. Hastings St. (think the equivalent of Nashville’s Broadway) was the true core of it all, and offered anyone the chance to hear the wealth of emerging jazz music as the years moved forward. Soon, the 1940’s saw BeBop enter the picture, the 1950’s then sees Detroit’s school systems being a model for music education and a pipeline for talent the city was continuously producing, the 1960’s ushered in the first innovators of contemporary jazz, though that year into the 1970’s would see the obstacle of Detroit’s decline.
Yet, this is what makes this film SO inspiring, is that through ALL the city and the artists represented went through, best of times and worst of times, they unequivocally ensured that jazz music’s presence and influence would REMAIN rooted in Detroit, even as progress (again, good and bad) ate away at the fabric of a once much more dynamic domain. Then, of course, we have the essential factors of the ARTISTS, past and present, who were the INFLUENCERS through the decades and whose LASTING impact on jazz music then and beyond remains untainted and undeterred. We learn about luminaries like Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef, Ron Carter, James Jamerson, Kenny Burrell, and a WEALTH of others (I mean, this is BARELY scratching the surface, folks!) through archival and current interviews (the latter with contemporaries of these greats), performance footage, classic recordings, ALL that made them who there are or were. MASTERY of their craft and SO immersive in their depth of knowledge, life outlooks, and unwavering belief in what jazz music brings to the world for the good of EVERYONE.
Likewise, those who chose to be the mentors, the ones who wished nothing more than to guarantee the talents, knowledge, and heritage of jazz music WOULD be passed down generation to generation, are highlighted as well, including Barry Harris, Marcus Belgrave, and Rodney Whitaker whose energy and desire to not just play, but to EDUCATE the next generations of musicians very much aided in carrying on Detroit’s rich traditions of the music. By the time we are arriving at the film’s finale, it’s the Detroit Jazz Festival which now astutely and with the same magnitude of respect, focus on creativity, and artistic integrity now carries the torch of Detroit’s STILL present prominence in strongly promoting their impeachable impact on the realm of jazz in this country, and again, around the world, in a manner that genuinely HONORS all those who’ve made it happen over the last ninety plus years and counting. If that alone doesn’t speak to perseverance and historical significance….what does??
So, in total, this has been a VERY high level overview of an undeniably relevant, entirely affecting, unreservedly soul-stirring, sonically pleasing documentary film because, besides not wanting to actually give away too much about it, it is a film to be WATCHED and EXPERIENCED for the lessons about jazz it brings–an American story–and what was, and is, brought to bear by a magnificent group of people. The worthiness of acknowledging their contributions then and now, embracing the mindset to ALWAYS overcome, to GROW not go, and that MUSIC IS POWERFUL, “The Best of the Best: Jazz From Detroit” is award-winning filmmaking for a reason. It isn’t JUST the heart, mind, and soul of a place we witness, it’s its very BEING.Take a shot and LIVE the music that would, and does, define the core of a city, a people, and US.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
