Erik's Picks
Erik's Picks are a section of our Quarter Notes monthly newsletter highlighting African American-focused media that our Executive Director would like to share each month. This gives our community the opportunity to learn more about the people, history, struggle, and culture that created this music that we all enjoy. Click the titles below to watch each selection.
"Silver Dollar Road follows the story of the Reels family who are valiantly attempting to protect the land their family bought one generation after slavery. This documentary highlights the ways the legal system has been exploited to keep Black land ownership fragile and the racial wealth gap growing."
Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser
"Along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk is credited as one of the pioneering musicians of bebop and is the second most recorded jazz composer in the world. Charlotte Zwerin's documentary tries to unravel Monk, who was known for having a thorny personality and an aggressive playing technique to match. Interviews with Monk's son and fellow musicians shed some light, and performance footage from a European tour captures his idiosyncratic style."
Using innovative animation and expert insights, this documentary based on Ibram X. Kendi's bestseller explores the history of racist ideas in America.
"Some Americans cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America, more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi argues in "Stamped from the Beginning," if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society."
Quincy
"This documentary profiles music and culture icon Quincy Jones, offering unprecedented access to his private life and stories from his unparalleled career."
When They See Us
"Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story."
The Black Church
"An intimate four-hour series from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song will explore the 400-year-old story of the black church in America, the changing nature of worship spaces, and the men and women who shepherded them from the pulpit, the choir loft, and church pews."
Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity
A cinematic ode to jazz legend, Wayne Shorter. The viewer watches through prolific periods of Shorter's life and how he grew to greatness, shattered the limitations of jazz, and became one of the most influential musicians and composers in American music.
13th - Ava DuVernay
13th is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. It explores the prison-industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States".
Brother Outsider - The Life of Bayard Rustin
In light of June being Pride month and the celebration of Juneteenth on the 19th, this month's pick from Erik is a documentary about Bayard Rustin, an often forgotten queer civil rights activist.
A Duke Named Ellington
Hear from the sources in this insightful Black-directed tribute to Duke Elllington's remarkable fifty-year musical journey. The two-part documentary showcases his pivotal contributions to modern music.
Driving While Black
A revealing documentary recalling the history and personal experiences of African Americans from the invention of the automobile to the societal changes of the 1960s.
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
"The life and music of legendary jazz drummer, composer and activist Max Roach. Tracing his creative peaks, personal struggles and reinventions from the Jim Crow to civil rights eras."