A feature film version of a 2023 TV series that chronicled the unusual relationship between Sweden and some of America’s greatest jazz stars. Starting in the 1950s, musicians like Dexter Gordon, Quincy Jones, Don Cherry and Eric Bibb escaped racism in the U.S. and found a welcoming audience in Sweden, as well as a safer and calmer environment to raise families.

We meet some of these kids, now grown men, who talk about the often complicated relationship they had with their fathers, as well as how the music inspired their own lives and careers, successfully so.

Lovingly put together; best part is the contrast between generations when it comes to the issue of racism in Sweden, a shameful chapter involving skinheads in the 1980s and ’90s.

2025-Sweden. 70 min. Color-B/W. Directed by Manal Masri. 

Trivia: Original title: Legacy – jazzens barn.