Today, Apple Original Films announced the release of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries’ Louis Armstrong documentary “Black & Blues: The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong.”
The documentary will be directed by Emmy-nominated Sacha Jenkins and produced by Jenkins, Julie Anderson, Sara Bernstein, and Justin Wilkes under Apple’s agreement with Imagine Documentaries. Executive producers are Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.
Michele Anthony and David Blackman serve as executive producers on the film, which is produced in collaboration with Universal Music Group’s Polygram Entertainment.
The film offers a definitive look at the master musician’s life and legacy as a founding father of jazz, the first pop star, and a cultural ambassador of the United States. He was loved by millions worldwide but often mischaracterized for not doing enough to support the civil rights movement.
In reality, his fight for social justice was fueled by his celebrity and his willingness to break his silence on issues of segregation and patriotism.
With the full support of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, the filmmakers have access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival materials, including hundreds of hours of audio recordings, film footage, photographs, personal diaries, and a life’s worth of ephemera for exclusive use in the first significant documentary dedicated entirely to his life.
