Through June 4
Because Mardi Gras fell right before the alarm was being publicly sounded about COVID-19, New Orleans has been one of the hardest-hit cities in the pandemic. Its legendary, more than a century old, black Mardi Gras krewe, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, has lost eight members and seen dozens fall ill. It suffered one of the earliest high-profile COVID-19 deaths in its music community in early April when it lost Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of one of the leading families of jazz. And its signature annual event, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, was cancelled for the first time since it was founded half a century ago.
Will it come back? The odds are excellent. After a steep population drop following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the city is growing quickly. And its richest source of culture, its black population, which was predicted to be dispersed and decimated following Katrina, has remained at 60% (given racial health disparities and the fact that so many work in front-line service jobs, that also helps account for the toll COVID-19 has taken).
The new documentary, Up From the Streets, focuses on the history and culture that produced the city’s vibrant, distinctive and diverse music scene. Its executive producer and host is someone who knows the city and its sound well: trumpeter Terence Blanchard, whose career was launched on a recommendation from one of Ellis Marsalis’ musician sons, fellow trumpeter Wynton. Blanchard also provided some of the music for Spike Lee’s 2006 Katrina documentary, When the Levees Broke.
Blanchard joined with filmmaker/director Michael Murphy to create Up From the Streets, combining historical materials (including footage of such key figures as Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino and Mahalia Jackson) with interviews Murphy has conducted over the years with such key NOLA figures as Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and the Neville Brothers to demonstrate the many musical and cultural strands that converged in this uniquely situated city. They call New Orleans “the city that care forgot,” which seems like a misnomer: care has found it often but overcoming its cares to produce the unequaled musical legacy this film celebrates is one of its strengths.
The Cleveland Cinematheque is offering a virtual screening of Up From The Streets, through June 4. Tickets are $12. Go here to purchase them.