The 11th annual Freep Film Festival returns to various locations across Detroit and its suburbs April 10-14, featuring a host of local documentaries with strong ties to the community. One local documentary, “The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit,” explores the city’s innovative and influential jazz scene and its impact on the world. From past artists like Elvin Jones and Ron Carter to today’s performers, such as Karriem Riggins and Regina Carter, the documentary spotlights some of the musicians who continue to impact Detroit’s jazz legacy. 

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The documentary is co-produced and written by Mark Stryker. It premieres Saturday, April 13 at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts during the 2024 Freep Film Festival. The film will be shown again on Sunday, April 14 at the Birmingham 8 Theatre. After the film screenings, filmmakers Roberta Friedman, Daniel Lowenthal and Stryker, along with bassist and composer Robert L. Hurst III, will sit down with Detroit Free Press members to discuss the film.  

“American Black Journal” host Stephen Henderson sat down with Stryker at the Detroit Film Theatre to talk about how the documentary came to be, Detroit’s significant influence on modern and contemporary jazz, and the conditions that existed in the city that created an explosion of jazz beginning in the 1940s. The two also discuss the innovative and influential jazz musicians from Detroit, both past and present.

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Watch American Black Journal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on Detroit Public TV, WTVS-Channel 56.