This 2024 documentary about the legendary Ensley-based jazz venue Tuxedo Junction not only highlights the history of the famed building and its many incarnations, it’s also an insightful look at how it became a worldwide musical icon due to Birmingham-born trumpeter and band leader Erskine Hawkins commemorating it in one of the most popular songs of the big band era. Recounting the evolution of not just the song and venue, but also the larger story of Ensley from a once-bustling steel mill town to an economically distressed area in dire need of reinvestment, it’s a film that delicately balances the hope and prosperity of bygone years with a sober look at the work that needs to be done to revitalize this important local community and its historic musical legacy.
Taking an even broader approach to the history it seeks to tell, the movie also documents the little known connections members of The Temptations had to the building when first starting out as aspiring young singers, as well as the evolution of jazz here in the Birmingham metro area through landmark institutions like Parker High School (formerly Industrial High School), the Tuggle Institute, and revered teachers like the legendary John T. “Fess” Whatley, who can rightly be acknowledged as the cornerstone of several generations of professionalism in the world of music that emanated from his classroom and became something of a calling card for our city around the country and world through people like Hawkins and the great Duke Ellington. Featuring amazing archival photographs, interviews with musicians, community leaders, and local historians, the film is a great example of how cinema can both highlight our area, while also drawing attention to the ways we can improve it. It’s a must-see for both music nerds and history buffs alike.
FUN FACT: The film also tells the tale of another, although unrelated concert venue in the area, also called Tuxedo Junction, that used to put on DIY punk shows back in the early-1990s. Often confused for the original Tuxedo Junction, and named in its honor, the movie hilariously shows how the history of the two buildings has oftentimes gotten confused over the years by those that used to attend shows at the punk club, not realizing they were actually in a completely different place. An easy thing to confuse, it adds some fun levity towards the end of the film that’s good for a few laughs as well as some great local history of the punk scene here.