Charles Burrell, © John Shackford.
Described as the “Jackie Robinson of classical music,” Charles Burrell is recognized as the first African American musician to break the color barrier and perform in a major American symphony. Performing with both the Denver Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony at the beginning of his career, he later performed with jazz legends Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Erroll Garner, Duke Ellington, Count Bassie, and Miles Davis.
At 101 years old, Charles Burrell’s legendary life has become the subject of Vohn Regensburger’s latest documentary The Longest Walk. Set for release in the summer of 2022, The Longest Walk explores the life Charles Burrell, painting a picture of his remarkable career through the stories of colleagues and family members.
To understand how a filmmaker approaches such a complex subject I conducted a series of interview with Regensburger in 2021. What follows is a candid discussion of his approach to capturing Burrell’s legendary life on film.
Brock Ferlaak: The subject of your film, Charles Burrell, has a larger-than-life legacy. When covering someone whose status is legendary in two worlds, both classical and jazz, where is the starting point for you?
Charles Burrell. Photo provided by the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library | Denver Public Library.
Vohn Regensburger: Charles Burrell broke down the barriers of discrimination in classical music as the first person of color to gain a full-time contract in a major symphony orchestra back in 1949. As artists, we’ve all dealt with rejection, but not to the degree Charlie encountered. When he broke through the wall of discrimination, he did so in a monumental fashion. This story is so important because we are all disillusioned to hear what he and so many others went through in their journeys, yet the very same kind of racism still exists in the country today.
There’s another side of Charlie, the remarkable man that I met through getting to know his family. Charlie was honored by the San Francisco Symphony in February of 2019 for his 6-year tenure back in 1959 – 1965. I flew out to San Fran to witness the celebration of this incomparable man and wonderful artist. The day of the event I was at lunch with his daughters and cousin, legendary jazz pianist Purnell Steen, where I was privy to all kinds of personal family stories told about Charlie and the family. Family members included: his niece, jazz singing legend Dianne Reeves, his cousins George Duke, the legendary pianist and producer, and of course, Purnell Steen.
They complained that it was criminal that Charlie’s story may never be heard by the world and that his legacy may fade away sadly unnoticed into the night. My head was filled with ideas as I knew I had the connections, ability, and could bridge the gap as both a filmmaker and musician to get this project filmed. It was right then I knew that I had to make this film. I announced my proclamation to the family members and we all had this big group-hug in the lobby of the Warwick Hotel. It was then that my journey began with Charlie’s documentary, The Longest Walk. After that inspirational moment, we were off to the races. I realized then that perhaps I could help preserve Charlie’s legacy.
Brock Ferlaak: How did the initial connection and project come about between you two? Did you know before you connected with Burrell that you were going to do the documentary with him?
Vohn Regensburger: I had been familiar with Charles Burrell, but nowhere near to that extent. My family went to The Colorado Symphony all the time. Everyone knew Charlie then because he’s so enigmatic and such a great entertainer, not to mention a deeply emotional player. At the time, I wasn’t aware he also was a monumental jazz player! I dubbed him the Bo Jackson of music, as he is a two-sport great in both jazz and classical music.
Charles Burrell and Purnell Steen, Photo © John Shackford.
My dad had passed in the previous year, so in 2018, I took my mom to Dazzle, the marvelous jazz club in Denver to get both of us out and back to enjoying the world again. One of my professors from music school was playing, and I knew everyone in the band except the leader, Purnell Steen. All of the musicians came up to say hello between sets, and Purnell wondered who I was and had to find out for himself. We struck up a great conversation as he could see my mother and I deep into the music. Apparently, the group spoke well of me because I was invited by Purnell to play with the band as a guitarist.
Charlie is Purnell’s cousin, and he loves to come watch Purnell’s group perform. It was unnerving to have a guy of that caliber watching you from 5-10 feet away. Here I was just trying to become a part of the band and those steely eyes of his were locked on my fingers on the neck of the guitar. Eventually, he gave me a broad grin, a thumb’s up and motioned for me to come over. From that moment on, we’ve been close and I’ve been the better person for that friendship. I knew him as a classical bassist, but to learn that he played with all of these legendary jazz players blew my mind. I became more knowledgeable through his stories about his life and about music history in general.
Brock Ferlaak: Is your intention to introduce Burrell to a new generation who might not be aware of his impact, or work backward in reflection of his many achievements? Was the goal to build a linear narrative or more of a character profile?
Vohn Regensburger: When I was pitching the business plan for this documentary, I had to explain to executives how there was no script, we were just going to point the camera and let this man tell his story. Far be it from me to think that I could impose my story on this legend without first hearing the stories being unveiled one by one by Charlie, his family, musicians, and acquaintances.
Purnell Steen and Vohn Regensburger, © Gymnopedie Films.
So many things in the documentary are important about his life that people simply don’t know about. For instance, I learned how influential his time in the navy was, where he was able to perfect his musical talent and play alongside future jazz greats, trumpeter Clark Terry and trombonist Al Gray who became lifelong friends. I was also moved by the way Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony impacted and inspired Charlie at the age of twelve so much so that he knew he would become a symphonic musician as his life’s calling. The dark side of things as well listening to how his music teachers taught him incorrectly, on purpose telling him that being a person of color he wouldn’t make it in a symphony orchestra. Despite all that, Charlie forged ahead with a will of steel to realize his dreams and become a role model of others to follow.
That’s just scratching the surface of the remarkable stories that not enough musicians or audiences know about, and the best way to present it is just to let him, his family, and his colleagues talk to us. I want it to be a retrospective of his life and achievements. Whether someone is familiar with Charlie or knows nothing about him, they should all be able to get something out of the film.
Brock Ferlaak: What have you yourself taken from Burrell’s story, life, and artistic gifts?
Vohn Regensburger: Charlie has stressed the importance of two key words to live by: perseverance and resilience. He has a lot to teach everybody about getting through roadblocks. He leads by example, never complaining about the difficult times, but by sharing the enthusiasm and joy of life to achieve one’s dreams.
What Charlie has taught us is that despite the roadblocks, you can accomplish all the dreams you thought possible. That’s his defining grace and what his legacy will be. He’s the much-needed example that dreams don’t come easy, but with hard work and belief, you can reach and touch your destiny. What others say is impossible, or what they impose on you can be done.
Brock Ferlaak: Have there been any challenges you’ve run into, or perhaps nervous pressure that comes with essentially capturing and presenting a portrait on someone with such a significant legacy?
Vohn Regensburger: Yes, during the process of making this film about Charlie in gathering stories, meeting his colleagues and painting his portrait on film, I never really imagined just how great a performer that he truly was and the height he reached in his profession. He is such a humble human being that he almost downplays his own significance. This really became apparent once we started uncovering archival footage of his performances.
Charles Burrell with a student. Photo provided by the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library | Denver Public Library.
It’s one thing to hear about these stories and quite another to see the man, the legend playing in his prime right before your very eyes. My jaw dropped seeing him perform on film; the footage made his legend exceed reality.
We ended up with about 50 or 60 hours of footage to pare down. At first, it seemed like a lot, but like a Picasso it starts to take shape as you go through it, looking and searching through all the angles. We were able to corroborate like stories from multiple people which gives us those multiple perspectives to really drive home the major points of his story and history.
Some of the interviews had to be conducted via Ecamm because of COVID-19 and we couldn’t get people in person for well over a year. Like many other productions, we were forced to go a different route because a lot of the subjects we were interviewing aside from Charlie were musicians who were 70-80 years old. It wasn’t what we expected, but in the end we were able to get the interviews.
Like with my other films, I’m proud of the fact that we weren’t boxed-in by a preconceived notion of the vision which lent itself to the most authentic approach. Again, if you keep attuned to the premise and pause to ask yourself, “What’s the story?”, the answers become very clear.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, you might also consider Brock Ferlaak’s Filmmaking & the Creative Process with Vohn Regensburger of Gymnopedie Films. For more information regarding The Longest Walk or Vohn Regensburger please visit: https://www.vohnregensburger.com/.
Author:
“Brock Ferlaak is a writer and filmmaker who originally hails from the lakeshore of West Michigan. He has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Filmmaking. He is passionate about independent cinema for the creative process and collaboration necessary for the revolutionary and unconventional medium to survive. He will soon move to New York to continue writing on entertainment, creativity, as well as works of fiction in addition to pursuing a career as a filmmaker.” For more information visit Ferlaak’s website.
