SYNOPSIS
About the Film
The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit is a landmark — the first documentary film to explore the dynamic story of the city’s innovative and influential jazz musicians. Inspired by Mark Stryker’s award-winning 2019 book Jazz from Detroit, the feature-length film makes the case that you can’t tell the history of jazz without telling the history of jazz from Detroit. Set within Detroit’s dramatic rise and fall as an industrial power and the struggles and triumphs of its African American community, the documentary weaves a compelling historical and cultural tapestry through the 20th and 21st centuries. From legends like Elvin Jones, Yusef Lateef, and Ron Carter to today’s stars like Karriem Riggins and Regina Carter, scores of world-class jazz musicians have rolled off Detroit’s assembly line—nurtured by a profound legacy of mentors such as Barry Harris, Marcus Belgrave, and Rodney Whitaker and the resiliency of an American city that never quits. The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit reminds audiences that Detroit remains a mecca of Black musical excellence, and that jazz is central to the soundtrack of the city’s renaissance.
Among the musicians, producers, historians, and writers appearing in the film are: Barry Harris, Charles McPherson, Robert Hurst, Sheila Jordan, Louis Hayes, Regina Carter, Johnny O’Neal, James Carter, Karriem Riggins, Rodney Whitaker, Don Was, Pat Metheny, Terence Blanchard, Christian McBride, George Bohanon, David Maraniss, Herb Boyd, Jamon Jordan, Marsha Music, Marion Hayden, and many others. (c. 2024, 90 minutes)
Director’s Statement
I have loved jazz for almost as long as I can remember.
I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and went to a diverse inner city high school with a large African American population. Like Detroit’s Cass Tech, my high school had a robust music program, and my friends were talented musicians—many are now professionals. I didn’t share their musical talents, but we were bonded by our love for jazz.
My partner Roberta Friedman and I first visited Detroit in 2013 while working on a different film project. I fell in love with the city. Detroit’s history parallels the history of the Newark I grew up in. I recognized in Detroit a kindred spirit: a certain resilience, an invigorating commitment to creativity and renewal despite adversity.
From Mark Stryker’s Jazz From Detroit, I learned how many great performers were Detroiters, and how little even committed jazz fans like myself knew about the powerful role the city of Detroit has played in this music. We contacted Mark through mutual friends and the three of us decided to make the film together. We met many wonderful people, felt like Detroit could be home and made a film that we are all proud of.
Daniel Loewenthal