"Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes" documentary

[cliffpeterson]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/movies/blue-note-records-beyond-the-notes-review.html

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/13/732100191/new-documentary-blue-note-beyond-the-notes-surpasses-its-purpose

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/blue-note-records-documentary-beyond-notes-846958/

 

 

 

 

[felser]

I'm sure it will have some interesting parts, but I don't agree with the basic premise.  The Don Was thing today is not the same Blue Note we loved.  That died a horrible death at the hands of United Artists.  EMI Manhattan started this new thing, with the old name, in the mid-80's.  They did do wonderful reissues of the old Blue Note for a time, I assume funded by the inexplicable Norah Jones revenue, but the new recordings by even the old names lacked the magic, and it just got worse.    I mean, I really like Suzanne Vega, but she's not Blue Note, really, in the sense of the term I/we think of, and has no link to it apart from a label name.

[BillF]

I saw the film a couple of weeks ago and remarked on this on this forum, though no one took it up.

Fascinating sound clips and photos from the classic Blue Note years. Obviously the film had present day Blue Note approval, as, otherwise perceptive, it failed to be explicit about the label's betrayal of its for-the-music-not-for-the-money tradition with the Norah Jones venture, though that betrayal was all too obvious to perceptive members of the film's audience.

[sidewinder]

I was never a fan of those Norah Jones releases but will never knock it as it helped open the CD reissue floodgates and provided affordable and readily available Conn reissues of all those previous rarities. Needs must !

Edited June 15, 2019 by sidewinder

[felser]

4 hours ago, sidewinder said:

I was never a fan of those Norah Jones releases but will never knock it as it helped open the CD reissue floodgates and provided affordable and readily available Conn reissues of all those previous rarities. Needs must !

My feelings exactly.  She's a favorite of mine for that very reason, though I would never dream of actually playing her CD (I did hear it all the way through once).  And she's OK at what she does, but what she does isn't Blue Note.

4 hours ago, BillF said:

I saw the film a couple of weeks ago and remarked on this on this forum, though no one took it up.

Fascinating sound clips and photos from the classic Blue Note years. Obviously the film had present day Blue Note approval, as, otherwise perceptive, it failed to be explicit about the label's betrayal of its for-the-music-not-for-the-money tradition with the Norah Jones venture, though that betrayal was all too obvious to perceptive members of the film's audience.

Bill, please share the link to your post, thanks!

[BillF]

24 minutes ago, felser said:

My feelings exactly.  She's a favorite of mine for that very reason, though I would never dream of actually playing her CD (I did hear it all the way through once).  And she's OK at what she does, but what she does isn't Blue Note.

Bill, please share the link to your post, thanks!

My post merely noted that the film would be of interest to members of this board, which I understand owes its origin to the fallout from the Norah Jones affair.

[Shrdlu]

Better to see "It Must Schwing", if you can. I have seen it.

It's pretty good, but doesn't contain much that an experienced jazz lover would not already know. But it's well worth a watch.

Wie ist dein Deutsch? The talking heads almost all speak in English, including Alfred and Dan Morgenstern, but they are almost entirely drowned out by overdubs in German. I can speak German, but it's hard to listen to both languages simultaneously. English subtitles would have been a great help, especially for American audiences.

Here is a Blue Note bio that isn't lame, unlike the 90s one. Catch it if you can, but don't spend a lot on a ticket.