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BEST OF THE BEST: JAZZ FROM DETROIT, THE

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, Garrett, 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 III, Christian McBride, Pat Metheny, Terence Blanchard, Sheila Jordan, Regina Carter, Louis Hayes, Johnny O’Neal, James Carter, Karriem Riggins, Rodney Whitaker, Don Was, George Bohanon, David Maraniss, Herb Boyd, Jamon Jordan, Marsha Music, Endea Owens, Marion Hayden, and many others.

Director

Daniel Lowenthal

Genre

Rating

STC

Year

2024

Country

USA

Language(s)

Runtime

1h 29m

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