Enter the Blue

Enter the Blue
Dave Chisholm: writing, drawing, coloring and lettering; Dustyn Payette: color flats
180 Pages
ISBN: 978-1940878898
Z2 Comics
2022

Trumpeter/visual artist Dave Chisholm has found ways to combine his two interests before. Instrumental (Z2 Comics, 2017) was an original story featuring a jazz trumpeter; Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California (Z2 Comics, 2020) told the story of bebop icon Charlie Parker's formative two-year sojourn in Los Angeles. Blue Note Records approached Chisholm and the publisher to create a history of the company—including founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff and the origins of the legendary jazz record label—but without resorting to the usual nonfiction narrative such a project would be expected to follow. Chisholm's response was this supernatural tale about the secret history of Blue Note Records and the meaning of jazz.

The protagonist is Jessie Choi, a young female jazz trumpeter, whose story is intimately tied to her musical mentor Jimmy Hightower, a veteran jazz bassist. Jesse had lost faith in her jazz calling—so much so that she had stopped playing altogether—despite Jimmy's faith in her. Then Jimmy collapses into a comatose state while on the bandstand performing, and at a gig Jesse and her friend Erin (a drummer) mention something Jimmy had talked about in their lessons called "The Blue." A hipster named Sherm says he knows all about it, and can explain it to them. His theory casts the entire Blue Note catalog as a manifestation of the ancient Jewish mystical belief system built around the Kabbalah (the "Tree of Life").

Jessie is ready to hear about it, because she had a transcendental experience while playing her trumpet. She runs out before the explanation is complete, but comes to a jam session at Erin's apartment—and enters The Blue. There she meets Jimmy, who tells her that he must stay there until he finds his late wife Margot (who was a jazz saxophonist). And so Jessie continues playing, entering The Blue multiple times, while also building an ever growing following in the New York City jazz world.

Her odyssey takes her through the entire history of jazz music, although not in a strict chronological path. Art Blakey to Duke Ellington to Charlie Haden to Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday all have wisdom to impart that mainly boils down to one thing: be yourself. After Jessie collapses onstage, she and Jimmy return to the world together. She has had an intense experience, and takes another step back from performance. But the closing scene finds her passing on the lesson to a young trumpet student. They play the blues together. The music continues.

Jessie's journey is heartfelt, and will certainly speak to most musicians' experience of learning to play jazz. The concept of The Blue proves to be an inspired way to tell the story of Blue Note Records. Fans will enjoy the direct references to famous albums in the catalog, complete with the iconic cover images, even if their role in Jessie's story can sometimes feel like a stretch.