Sophie Huber’s Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes, is a revelatory journey behind the scenes of Blue Note Records, the pioneering label that gave voice to some of the most ground-breaking jazz artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The film opens June 14th in New York City, and June 28th in Los Angeles with a nationwide theatrical release to follow.

Through rare archival footage, current recording sessions and conversations with Blue Note artists, the film uncovers a history of jazz that remains fiercely political and relevant today and illuminates the connections between jazz and hip hop. With Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Norah Jones, Robert Glasper, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Terrace Martin, and Don Was.

One of the most important record labels in the history of jazz – and, by extension, that of American music – Blue Note Records has been home to such groundbreaking artists as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Bud Powell and Art Blakey, as well as present-day luminaries like Robert Glasper, Ambrose Akinmusire and Norah Jones. Founded in New York in 1939 by German Jewish refugees Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, the history of Blue Note Records goes beyond the landmark recordings, encompassing the pursuit of musical freedom, the conflict between art and commerce and the idea of music as a transformative and revolutionary force. Through rare archival footage, current recording sessions and conversations with jazz icons Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and today’s groundbreaking Blue Note musicians, Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes reveals a powerful mission and illuminates the vital connections between jazz and hip hop.

Swiss filmmaker Sophie Huber gained her filmmaking experience as a member of an award winning Berlin film collective, for which she co-directed several films before directing her debut feature documentary, the critically acclaimed Harry Dean Stanton Partly Fiction, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2012. Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes is Sophie’s second documentary.