This documentary weaves together live performances and interviews from the 50th anniversary of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, George Wein's brainchild back in 1971. This is the signature annual music and cultural event of the city with hundreds of thousands of attendees each year. The N.O. "Jazz Fest" celebrates the music, food, people, arts & crafts, and culture of all of Louisiana since 1970, and is an essential showcase of the rich heritage of the region. The film, shot at the 2019 Fest, features local music heroes joined on 14 stages by some of the biggest names in the music industry, and a wealth of archival documentary footage from the past half century. Among the 50 plus featured performers are Jimmy Buffett, Pitbull, Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry, Aaron Neville, The Marsalis Family, Earth, Wind & Fire, Irma Thomas, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Samantha Fish, Herbie Hancock, Al Green, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Mardi Gras Indians, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, Tom Jones, Gary Clark Jr, and many others. This film not only captures the Festival in all of its beauty and glory, but also delves deep into the rich culture of The Big Easy.
This was delineated superbly by directors Frank Marshal ("The Making of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (TV movie, documentary)" '85, "Arachnophobia" '90, "Alive" '93, "Congo" '95, "Eight Below" '06, "The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (documentary) '20, Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name" (documentary) plus TV and shorts, and Ryan Suffern ("Out & Around" (documentary) '15, "Finding Oscar" (documentary) '16) plus TV and documentary shorts. With the plethora of archival footage and interviews in which this 90 minute plus film held, it truly was imperative to have two directors behind the camera. It was simply sequenced well and flowed like water in its cohesiveness and exhaustive research. For the same reason that two directors were needed, the same goes for the need for three cinematographers: Mike Parry, Justin Kane and Boyd Hobbs. Again, with all the interviews and the setting up for them, it had to be a logistic nightmare. And the real star here is the amazing editor, Martin Singer ace. The backbreaking effort of editing all the interviews in the strategical places with the archival footage must've been exhaustive at best, and this editor pulled it off in spades. This story covered not only the Fest, but so many events that occurred during this 50 year period, such as 2005's Katrina hurricane, history of the city, about the swamp people, and so much about the culture of the people and how, in spite of trials, they band together and help each other as a people. One thing I learned was that there is two distinct bayou music: cajun music, which is mostly comprised of white people, and zydeco music, which is mostly comprised of black people, whereas it is definitely an over-the-top version of the cajun music. This is a film that all should see, whether documentaries are your liking or not, because once you leave the theater, the power of the film simply stays with you.
This documentary is, like so many other documentaries, an exhaustive expose of not only the history of the Jazz Fest, but how it is such a need to bring people together which music can and has done. And in a world where we seem to live in the divided states of America instead of the united states of America, we can use a film like this more than ever.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 95mins.
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