It Must Schwing: The Blue Note Story, a documentary directed by Eric Friedler, English, German, 115 minutes, to be shown during the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival at Reading Cinemas Town Square, 4665 Clairemont Drive, San Diego on Thursday, February 7, 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, February 13, 7 p.m., and at Edwards San Marcos Stadium 18, 1180 W. San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos, on Sunday, February 10, 7 p.m.
By Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO — This documentary presents the fascinating story of two German Jewish refugees whose love of jazz and empathy for Blacks motivated them to establish
Blue Note Records, the label of Black musicians such as John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Quincy Jones.
Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff met as young teenagers in Berlin. They attended jazz concerts together in the Admiralpalatz, and collected jazz records.
Alfred came to the USA first. He recognized the growing danger of Hitler’s escalating animosity toward the Jews. In New York, he struggled at the beginning, taking menial jobs and sleeping in Central Park, but he eventually managed to start a record company, finding a superb recording engineer, Rudy van Gelder.
At the time, pop recordings were in three catEgories, Swing, Latin and Race. The latter, were found mostly in Harlem. Alfred was attracted to the modern jazz of black musicians. He frequented some of the bars where the black artists performed and, even though he was once severely beaten up, he persisted in seeking out talented performers to showcase on his new record label.
As a Jew who was discriminated against in Germany, he felt great empathy with black people who were still suffering discrimination in the US. An example was when Billie Holiday sang with a white band, she needed to take the freight elevator up and sit in the audience until she joined the band for her solos.
When Alfred’s friend, Frank, finally realized he must escape Germany, Alfred sponsored him. Frank came over in 1939, on the last boat from Hamburg that was not policed by Goebbels. The rest of his family, who chose to remain in Germany, were annihilated in the concentration camps. Frank was a talented photographer and the Blue Note record covers all had his interesting photographs of the performers.
All the musicians in the film speak glowingly about Alfred and Frank. The musicians never felt exploited and were treated like family. The two record label owners loved jazz music so much that their only goal was to make enough money to be able to make the next record. They listened closely to the performers and on the rare occasion when they were not satisfied, Alfred would say, in his heavy German accent, “It Must Shwing!” thus the title of the film.
Alfred’s first wife wanted them to have children. “We have a child,” Alfred replied, “Blue Note Records.” She divorced him and he went on to marry his second wife, Ruth, who realized that his work came first in his life.
One of the artists called the music of the Blue Note Label, the sound track of the civil rights movement. The recordings exposed black artists to the larger US audiences who came to appreciate their musical abilities and began to empathize with their plight.
One of the highlights of the film is the animated Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit,” a song about lynchings of black men by the Ku Klux Klan in the South.
The film cleverly uses animated figures to represent Alfred and Frank and others for whom they were not able to find actual footage.
There are great examples of jazz performances throughout the documentary and many Blue Note musicians speak about their experiences with the two owners. Frank’s wonderful photos are also a major feature.
This is a remarkable story of Jewish-Black relations that deserved to be told.
Although the documentary could benefit from some judicious editing, the musical selections alone are worth the price of admission.
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Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony, is a freelance writer specializing in the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com
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