It Must Schwing: The Blue Note Story

In 1939 Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff, two young emigrants from Berlin, founded the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records in New York. The label focussed exclusively on American jazz music and developed a distinctive recording style and sound. Blue Note's star-studded line-up included Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk and Quincy Jones. Blue Note discovered and produced all of them. At a time when African-American musicians in the U.S. were still suffering from discrimination and exclusion, Blue Note Records respected them as equal artists. The label not only appreciated them as extraordinarily gifted musicians but also provided them with a platform for their work. "It Must Schwing!" tells the moving story of two friends united by their passionate love of jazz and a deep belief in human and artistic freedom.