Filmmaker André Gladu continues his journey through North America’s varied music and sounds in Liberty Street Blues. From the film’s opening sequences, the voiceover draws a connection between New Orleans and Montréal, tracing the northern and southern boundaries of the region he has always roamed for his films. In the streets of Louisiana’s metropolis, Gladu and his team seek out the blues and jazz music of its Black communities, brilliantly capturing its festive and rollicking second lines. In addition to filming professional musicians, they stop to interview bystanders and street vendors in the French Market. Whether in Quebec or Louisiana, regardless of our skin color or the language we speak, music, from traditional reels to jazz, has the power to build solidarity and break down the barriers and categories that divide individuals and communities. If there’s one lesson we can learn from Liberty Street Blues, it’s this: music helps us connect to a deeply human and essential quality inside each of us.

Jean-Philippe Desrochers
Critic