This selective music feature arose from a production company founded by NASA astrophysicists, chiefly director Stefan Immler. They shot for the stars trying to squeeze a vast jazz chronicle into a modest feature running time.
What makes Oxygen for the Ears distinctive (Ken Burns' monumental Jazz (2001) is a hard act to follow) is its emphasis on jazz—"syncopated improvisation" as one devotee puts it succinctly—in the "U Street" neighborhood of Washington DC, an area that was among the hardest hit during the 1968 riots following the Martin Luther King assassination. But U Street was the crossroads of some of the finest jazz players and traditions from New York, New Orleans, and the West Coast.
Jelly Roll Morton migrated here from New Orleans, and subsequently from his U Street concert club. He would loudly make the claim that he literally invented jazz—a controversial declaration that still triggers arguments among jazz buffs, but the documentary here seems to side with Morton's self-aggrandizement. There is an appreciation of Duke Ellington as not only the greatest jazz composer but one of the great musical minds of all time.
With the Washington DC focus, the picture also touches on jazz archives of the Library of Congress, and the "Rhythm Road" US government outreach programs (credited here to Adam Clayton Powell) that sent the likes of Dizzy Gillespie on tour around the world, championing jazz as a distinctly American music form. Though, ironically, those same black artists back home could not stay in white-owned hotels or be served in white restaurants.
Jazz personalities specific to U Street include Buck Hill, a world-class saxman who shunned widespread touring to remain with his family and day job as a DC mail carrier (his streetcorner performances in Postal Service uniform were a favorite subject for photojournalists).
Interviewees include Esperanza Spalding, Jimmy `Junebug' Jackson, Eric Lewis and Chuchito Valdes. The roll call of jazz greats no longer living is a melancholy one, and some of the elder figures here declare that—with a sharp drop in radio airplay especially—jazz is a dying field. Younger practitioners, however, insist on keeping the flame burning.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Music collections are a given, though libraries with a Maryland/DC geographical orientation should not miss out on the local-history aspect.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
Music in general, jazz music, and American musical history are ideal library shelves for this educational documentary.
What type of classroom would this documentary resource be suitable for?
Music studies that want to get the most out of the jazz spectrum in a reasonably short time (even if it exceeds the usual 55-minute classroom duration) should strongly consider Oxygen for the Ears, at the high school level and up. Recommended.