| One Night with Blue Note | |
| Producer: | Bruce Lundvall Tammara Wells |
| Music: | Art Blakey Ron Carter Jack DeJohnette Herbie Hancock Freddie Hubbard Michel Petrucciani Jimmy Smith Stanley Turrentine Cecil Taylor McCoy Tyner Grover Washington, Jr. Jackie McLean |
| Cinematography: | Martin Pitts |
| Distributor: | EMI Distribution |
| Runtime: | 121 min. |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
One Night with Blue Note is a 1985 feature length jazz film directed by John Charles Jopson.[1]
To celebrate record executive Bruce Lundvall having relaunched the defunct Blue Note Records label in 1985 under the parent label EMI Manhattan Records, he and music director Michael Cuscuna staged a concert on February 22, 1985 at The Town Hall in New York City, bringing together some of the jazz legends associated with Blue Note over the years as well as some newly signed artists.
The 3 hour-plus event was shot on 16mm film with multiple cameras. Director Jopson prepared by studying the music from various live recordings, and then, consulting with producer Tammara Wells plus director of photography Martin Pitts and camera operators Ernest Dickerson, Paul Goldsmith and Don Lenser, determined the camera positions. During rehearsals Pitts and long-time associate Lou Tobin designed the lighting for show. The lighting team was joined by the crew from A Chorus Line which had just closed on Broadway. The film is known for its intimate close-ups of the musicians, showing their subtle signals to each other and acknowledgment of well-played riffs. The recording was engineered by Mike Moran and David Hewitt with Remote Recording Service's Silver Truck.
A People magazine review of the original film from December 16, 1985 stated "There is no hype to this film, just musicians standing and sitting around playing music. But what musicians, and what music. Jopson focuses on faces and hands, capturing the joy that surged through what were often strangely formal proceedings."[2] The All About Jazz review of the DVD re-release by Jim Santella stated "Its historical significance cannot be ignored. With positive changes in what we can now accomplish technologically, Blue Note’s highly recommended DVD makes the future of jazz look even brighter".[3]
| One Night with Blue Note Preserved | |
| Type: | Live album |
| Artist: | Various Artists |
| Cover: | One Night with Blue Note Preserved.jpg |
| Released: | 1985 |
| Recorded: | February 22, 1985 |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Label: | Blue Note |