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There are all sorts of “Blue Note at 75” birthday events around D.C. this week, but if you’re somehow still hazy about Blue Note Records’ importance to American culture, today’s documentary will educate you. Blue Note: A Story of Modern Jazz traces the label’s origins back to its roots, when white German immigrants Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff joined forces to document their love of music by black Americans. Lion and Wolff allowed musicians like pianist Bud Powell, drummer Art Blakey, organist Jimmy Smith, and saxophonist Hank Mobley to tell their sonic stories. The artists return the favor and tell the label’s tales, as well as their own, in the documentary. Read more >>> The film shows at 6:30 p.m. at Goethe-Institut Washington, 812 7th St. NW. Free. (202) 289-1200. goethe.de/washington. (Christopher Porter)
EAT THIS
Do you have a margarita in your hand? No? Well then, check out our list of Cinco de Mayo deals across town on Young and Hungry. (Jessica Sidman)
OH AND ALSO
Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, the rock duo featuring Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, plays an early show at U Street Music Hall with Jeffrey Lewis. 7 p.m. at 1115 U St. NW. $15.
R&B artist Jessy Lanza brings her electro-tinged compositions to the Black Cat Backstage. 8 p.m. at 1811 14th St. NW. $12.
Acclaimed Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy reads and discusses her work with Jeffrey Brown of the PBS News Hour at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 7:30 p.m. at 201 East Capitol St. SE. $15.
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