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Enter the Blue
What begins as one woman's search for her own artistic courage unravels into a stunning look into what jazz music can teach us about our search for the truest versions of ourselves.
For decades, seasoned players on the scene have spoken in whispered tones about The a mysterious meeting place for jazz history - a place where ghosts from this music's storied past spring to life for those courageous enough to enter.
When Jessie Choi's mentor Jimmy Hightower collapses at a gig and loses consciousness, she finds herself reluctantly pulled back into the jazz scene she abandoned years earlier. In investigating the music and mystery behind Jimmy's comatose state, every thread leads to the same is Jimmy somehow trapped in this enigma known as The Blue? In her search to save her teacher, Jessie rubs shoulders with legends, uncovers the secret history of Blue Note Records, and faces her own deepest fears.
For decades, seasoned players on the scene have spoken in whispered tones about The a mysterious meeting place for jazz history - a place where ghosts from this music's storied past spring to life for those courageous enough to enter.
When Jessie Choi's mentor Jimmy Hightower collapses at a gig and loses consciousness, she finds herself reluctantly pulled back into the jazz scene she abandoned years earlier. In investigating the music and mystery behind Jimmy's comatose state, every thread leads to the same is Jimmy somehow trapped in this enigma known as The Blue? In her search to save her teacher, Jessie rubs shoulders with legends, uncovers the secret history of Blue Note Records, and faces her own deepest fears.
180 pages, Paperback
Published December 20, 2022
About the author
Dave Chisholm
21 books41 followersDave Chisholm is a graphic novelist and musician currently living in Rochester, NY where he received his doctorate in jazz trumpet from the Eastman School of Music in 2013. His expertise in music as well as his formal inventiveness within the comics medium has resulted in a string of critically-acclaimed music-centric graphic novels including Enter the Blue (2022, Z2 Comics), Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California (2020, Z2 Comics), and the groundbreaking graphic novel + original soundtrack Instrumental (2017, Z2 Comics). In his newest work, Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound, Chisholm portrays the life of Miles Davis, one of his oldest musical heroes, in a kaleidoscopic array of visual styles that represent Davis' famously varied oeuvre.
Hailed by ComicsBeat as "one of the most exciting comic auteurs working in comics today," Chisholm also has a passion for education and teaches comics and music at the Hochstein School and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
In his free time, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife Elise. They are expecting their first child in July 2023.
Hailed by ComicsBeat as "one of the most exciting comic auteurs working in comics today," Chisholm also has a passion for education and teaches comics and music at the Hochstein School and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
In his free time, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife Elise. They are expecting their first child in July 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 30, 2022
An ambitious and passionate graphic novel that focuses on a young woman jazz trumpet player who learns what it means to "enter the blue" where the history of jazz music has resided at its best, a kind of mystical, in-the-zone place of creativity and imagination. When the girl picks up her instrument o try and find her comatose mentor in the blue, she meets her inspirational mentors from Monk to Art Blakey and others.
A nerdy jazz scholar (a stand-in for Chisholm himself, with a PhD in trumpet and clearly a jazz scholar) gives her a lot of the background for what it means to be "into the blue" for the most dedicated and coloring-out-of-the-lines jazz artists--a series of manic and amusing but also informative lectures. In addition to being about artistic passion, the book is also about the Blue Note Record label and all of its amazing artists.
A nerdy jazz scholar (a stand-in for Chisholm himself, with a PhD in trumpet and clearly a jazz scholar) gives her a lot of the background for what it means to be "into the blue" for the most dedicated and coloring-out-of-the-lines jazz artists--a series of manic and amusing but also informative lectures. In addition to being about artistic passion, the book is also about the Blue Note Record label and all of its amazing artists.
January 18, 2023
This was really fantastic. A music student who feels a bit lost and hopeless with her music because she compares herself to the success of one of her peers, gives up on aspirations of playing—until her mentor and friend enters a kind of coma, she believes is connected to The Blue. A spiritual kind of connection that jazz musicians can enter under particular circumstances. A place where time stops, and that has positive and negative effects on the artist spending time there.
This graphic novel is on point with absolutely everything. Thematically and as a metaphor, I found what is communicated about The Blue to be really compelling and highly novel. But it also manages to teach you a little bit about jazz, and why it endures, its iterations, and what can be so profound about it. The liminal space of The Blue, where an artist slips into a connection and conversation with all the great players, sometimes As they are playing themselves, in their own past, is just phenomenally done.
Then, the character arc of the protagonist is also really well done. She has her own issues that interrelate very well with the two conflicts on the page. The dialogue is good. The artwork is fantastic. When she slips into The Blue with Art Blackey, I actually physically went and took out THE FREEDOM RIDER (from Blue Note records, I might add), and put it on while I was reading it. What a great experience. As the discussion about the art form takes place, if you have a companion piece going at the same time, I challenge you to not get emotional.
One of the best graphic novels I have ever read.
This graphic novel is on point with absolutely everything. Thematically and as a metaphor, I found what is communicated about The Blue to be really compelling and highly novel. But it also manages to teach you a little bit about jazz, and why it endures, its iterations, and what can be so profound about it. The liminal space of The Blue, where an artist slips into a connection and conversation with all the great players, sometimes As they are playing themselves, in their own past, is just phenomenally done.
Then, the character arc of the protagonist is also really well done. She has her own issues that interrelate very well with the two conflicts on the page. The dialogue is good. The artwork is fantastic. When she slips into The Blue with Art Blackey, I actually physically went and took out THE FREEDOM RIDER (from Blue Note records, I might add), and put it on while I was reading it. What a great experience. As the discussion about the art form takes place, if you have a companion piece going at the same time, I challenge you to not get emotional.
One of the best graphic novels I have ever read.
October 4, 2022
Wow, wow, wow, I love the characters and their connections, the social consciousness, the music references, the plot, the life lesson and the page turns that create awe. Notice that I wrote that previous sentence in present tense. This is an amazing book and work of art that will stay with me long after today.
December 16, 2022
A fun exciting read. Familiar phrases are repeated and echoed, like a jazz tune.
I randomly picked out Pete La Roca's Basra and Clifford Jordan's Glass Bead Games to play along.
I randomly picked out Pete La Roca's Basra and Clifford Jordan's Glass Bead Games to play along.
June 8, 2023
„Enter th Blue” to kolejny komiks Dave’a Chisholma, który jest wyrazem fascynacji jazzem, będąc w swej kategorii czymś w 100% wiarygodnym, bo autor sam jest profesjonalnym muzykiem. W przeciwieństwie do „Chasin’ the Bird” bazą nie jest opowieść o konkretnym etapie życia jednego słynnego muzyka, lecz fikcyjna historia ambitnej, choć przechodzącej wyraźny twórczy kryzys trębaczki. Historia jazzu jest tej opowieści istotnym tłem.
Kiedy Jassie porzuca granie, bo nie może się pogodzić z niedostatkami własnej techniki, nieoczekiwana choroba jej mentora umożliwia odkrycie wymiaru pozbawionego czasu i przestrzeni - stanu, który jest przywilejem wielkich muzyków, gdy uda im się osiągnąć idealną synchronizację duszy i ciała podczas improwizacji. Tajemnica „The Blue” zakodowana jest po części w żydowskiej tradycji (założycielami Blue Note byli dwaj Żydzi zbiegli podczas wojny z Niemiec do Stanów), po części w słynnych okładkach płyt ze wspomnianej legendarnej wytwórni. Kolejne elementy układanki to spory fun dla fanów jazzu, spotkania z legendami pokroju Arta Blakeya, Duke’a Ellingtona, Charliego Hadena czy Louisa Amstronga, jak również przypomnienie wielkich płyt, po które po lekturze od razu chce się sięgnąć. To także (a może przede wszystkim) opowieść o szukaniu własnej drogi i sztuce, która powinna być szczera, a niekoniecznie perfekcyjna. Dzięki temu „Enter the Blue” nie zamyka się jedynie w hermetycznym kręgu miłośników danego gatunku muzycznego, ale mówi o sztuce w ogóle i staje się opowieścią uniwersalną.
Czy jest różowo? Nie do końca. Mimo, że mi się podobało, liczyłem na większą odwagę w eksperymentowaniu z formą. Kapitalny „Chasin’ the Bird” był pod tym względem zdecydowanie ciekawszy, zróżnicowany formalnie i metaforyczny, mimo że paradoksalnie to „Enter the Blue” przedstawia fabułę opartą na jednej wielkiej metaforze. Po drugie ten komiks jest w zasadzie jednowątkowy, autor poświęca więcej czasu na eksplorowanie owego mitycznego miejsca spełnienia wszystkich wybitnych muzyków niż przesuwanie wydarzeń do przodu. Zresztą w pewnym momencie za bardzo nie ma czego przesuwać. Innymi słowy: to nie będzie dobra lektura dla tych, których interesują zwroty akcji i pędzący bieg wydarzeń, to raczej kontemplacja sztuki i twórcy.
Fajne, dla mnie, choć oczko niżej niż fenomenalny „Chasin’ the Bird”.
Kiedy Jassie porzuca granie, bo nie może się pogodzić z niedostatkami własnej techniki, nieoczekiwana choroba jej mentora umożliwia odkrycie wymiaru pozbawionego czasu i przestrzeni - stanu, który jest przywilejem wielkich muzyków, gdy uda im się osiągnąć idealną synchronizację duszy i ciała podczas improwizacji. Tajemnica „The Blue” zakodowana jest po części w żydowskiej tradycji (założycielami Blue Note byli dwaj Żydzi zbiegli podczas wojny z Niemiec do Stanów), po części w słynnych okładkach płyt ze wspomnianej legendarnej wytwórni. Kolejne elementy układanki to spory fun dla fanów jazzu, spotkania z legendami pokroju Arta Blakeya, Duke’a Ellingtona, Charliego Hadena czy Louisa Amstronga, jak również przypomnienie wielkich płyt, po które po lekturze od razu chce się sięgnąć. To także (a może przede wszystkim) opowieść o szukaniu własnej drogi i sztuce, która powinna być szczera, a niekoniecznie perfekcyjna. Dzięki temu „Enter the Blue” nie zamyka się jedynie w hermetycznym kręgu miłośników danego gatunku muzycznego, ale mówi o sztuce w ogóle i staje się opowieścią uniwersalną.
Czy jest różowo? Nie do końca. Mimo, że mi się podobało, liczyłem na większą odwagę w eksperymentowaniu z formą. Kapitalny „Chasin’ the Bird” był pod tym względem zdecydowanie ciekawszy, zróżnicowany formalnie i metaforyczny, mimo że paradoksalnie to „Enter the Blue” przedstawia fabułę opartą na jednej wielkiej metaforze. Po drugie ten komiks jest w zasadzie jednowątkowy, autor poświęca więcej czasu na eksplorowanie owego mitycznego miejsca spełnienia wszystkich wybitnych muzyków niż przesuwanie wydarzeń do przodu. Zresztą w pewnym momencie za bardzo nie ma czego przesuwać. Innymi słowy: to nie będzie dobra lektura dla tych, których interesują zwroty akcji i pędzący bieg wydarzeń, to raczej kontemplacja sztuki i twórcy.
Fajne, dla mnie, choć oczko niżej niż fenomenalny „Chasin’ the Bird”.
January 20, 2023
This book was not what I expected, but I still really enjoy it. I love the incorporation of jazz in a fantasy novel, it's not something you see often, but it was really good. I didn't think I would enjoy it, because I already have many books on jazz, and I didn't think that anything new could be done with the idea of jazz, but I was proven wrong and I'm very happy about it.
August 27, 2022
What a unique twist on the feelings of music and where it can take you. Dave continues to capture music in art & comic form unlike anyone else. Not only does this story tap into more feelings about music but puts such a unique sci fi Twist on it that’s nervously exciting.
August 31, 2022
Fantastic read! The art is incredible, of course, but the story is wonderful. Especially if you love jazz. Lots of great looks at some historical giants here too. Highly recommended!
February 1, 2023
Jazz and music lovers will especially appreciate this one...
When Jessie Choi's music mentor Jimmy Hightower is hospitalized in a coma after he collapsed while playing at a gig, she takes it upon herself to jump back into playing her trumpet. While playing a gig to find her voice in the music, she enters what Jimmy called "The Blues", an alternate world filled with jazz and music greats, and sees Jimmy there. She risks her own life to reenter The Blues to learn about herself and to save Jimmy.
Chisholm knowledge of music history enables him to build this alternate reality where jazz and blues musicians from many time periods meet. The story flows well, with a lyric, musical quality to the text. It is interesting that he chose a female to play the trumpet (also Chisholm's instrument). He includes some of the biggest names in the business: Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday, among others. This is a pleasant way to deliver a lesson in music history/appreciation, as readers also learn about the history of Blue Note Records.
Chisholm makes liberal use of BNR album covers for the endsheets and chapter covers. The action is good throughout with excellent quality color illustration. He uses a white music staff moving to the groove with a blue background as someone is entering the portal to The Blues. While in The Blues, everything that is memory or in the past has a blue color/cast to it; those who are alive in The Blues are shown in color with a blue cast.
Although intended for adults, this title is also appropriate for young adults.
Highly Recommended.
When Jessie Choi's music mentor Jimmy Hightower is hospitalized in a coma after he collapsed while playing at a gig, she takes it upon herself to jump back into playing her trumpet. While playing a gig to find her voice in the music, she enters what Jimmy called "The Blues", an alternate world filled with jazz and music greats, and sees Jimmy there. She risks her own life to reenter The Blues to learn about herself and to save Jimmy.
Chisholm knowledge of music history enables him to build this alternate reality where jazz and blues musicians from many time periods meet. The story flows well, with a lyric, musical quality to the text. It is interesting that he chose a female to play the trumpet (also Chisholm's instrument). He includes some of the biggest names in the business: Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday, among others. This is a pleasant way to deliver a lesson in music history/appreciation, as readers also learn about the history of Blue Note Records.
Chisholm makes liberal use of BNR album covers for the endsheets and chapter covers. The action is good throughout with excellent quality color illustration. He uses a white music staff moving to the groove with a blue background as someone is entering the portal to The Blues. While in The Blues, everything that is memory or in the past has a blue color/cast to it; those who are alive in The Blues are shown in color with a blue cast.
Although intended for adults, this title is also appropriate for young adults.
Highly Recommended.
April 25, 2024
“You made a mistake? To quote my friend Miles Davis so what? Inside that mistake is the magic-inside that mistake is a bridge to this place.”
Chisholm plunders the Blue Note back catalogue and draws from that immense well of talent as well as paying homage to many other jazz and soul greats from back in the day and weaves them deep into what is a really clever and inventive story.
The moody, occasionally dreamy colours really compliment the spirit and feel of the story, lending it a retro feel and channels the spirit of jazz (though not quite in the way that The Mighty Boosh does).
January 16, 2023
Found this randomly in a store that doesn't sell graphic novels, more vinyl and weird things. Looked like something up my street so I picked it up on a whim.
A graphic novel about jazz and mental health and the mysticism about performing music? What a perfect topic for me. And the book is good. Great art and a good story. The mysticism parts were hit and miss for me personally, but it's really well done.
A graphic novel about jazz and mental health and the mysticism about performing music? What a perfect topic for me. And the book is good. Great art and a good story. The mysticism parts were hit and miss for me personally, but it's really well done.
March 16, 2023
really fantastic graphic novel about the places music can take a musician. The drawings are just beyond exceptional, and sometimes there is this wonderful cadence, where the same picture shows twice either with no changes or with one tiny change. I immediately got a hold of everything else this author has written.
April 2, 2023
This book is a love letter to every artist who has ever worried they’ll never measure up, and especially a love letter to jazz/blues. The art is stunning, and the story is painful and beautiful, at times funny, in a way that rings true to life. I could not put it down, and already can’t wait to read it again
October 20, 2023
I read this book because on the cover there is a musician who is playing the trumpet. I have a high school student who is an English language learner and doesn't like to read. I've been trying to find something that would speak to him.
When I handed him this book, he looked at the cover and gave it a shot.
This book talks about a mysterious place, as the main character tries to save her friend. It also delved into famous jazz artists like Thelonious Monk 💜
I will be adding this to my classroom library in high school. Additionally this book would be good in an upper elementary classroom library (they won't understand it all), and middle school. It's main target seems to be the older kids.
When I handed him this book, he looked at the cover and gave it a shot.
This book talks about a mysterious place, as the main character tries to save her friend. It also delved into famous jazz artists like Thelonious Monk 💜
I will be adding this to my classroom library in high school. Additionally this book would be good in an upper elementary classroom library (they won't understand it all), and middle school. It's main target seems to be the older kids.
January 29, 2023
Wildly inventive in concept (esp for conspiracy buffs and jazz buffs). Expresses wonderfully the soul of jazz - freedom, individuality, inventiveness, the embrace of imperfection. More than that it's just a nice yarn with a happy ending. Read it all in one rapacious gulp.
January 30, 2024
Captivating illustrations, great message
December 26, 2022
A stunningly beautiful graphic novel. Up there with Thompson’s Blankets as one of the best I’ve ever read.
January 27, 2023
A brilliant and imaginative look at how improvising musicians get to the heart of the matter. Created by someone who clearly knows what that feels like.
April 3, 2023
I hope there is a timeless dimension where jazz artists are unified by their intent.
A place where mistakes are recognized as a necessary part of beauty.
Actually, I hope we all get to spend some time in the blue.
A place where mistakes are recognized as a necessary part of beauty.
Actually, I hope we all get to spend some time in the blue.
November 17, 2023
Loved this....and I'm not into jazz.
September 6, 2023
Great art and story.
February 24, 2023
Beautiful graphics and an inspiring story are interwoven with jazz history to make a spectacular novel!
August 30, 2022
Anyone who has read Dave Chisholm's 2020 graphic novel Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California, already knows what a great story-teller Dave Chisholm is, but as great as that was, Enter The Blue is completely NEXT LEVEL greatness! The title, Enter The Blue, is an ode to Blue Note Records, an American jazz label founded 83 years ago and this amazing graphic novel takes the reader on a journey through many of said label's jazz greats, but it's also an inspiring story about finding your personal artistic self. Enter The Blue will make you want to want to sing from the rooftops as I'm doing about its greatness and it may very well inspire you to seek out some of the jazz musicians that are a big part of this graphic novel. If Enter The Blue doesn't get Dave Chisholm's name out there on a larger scale, well that will be very sad. A+++!!
December 17, 2022
I feel like this book would be more appreciated by someone who is super into music or is a musician.
I really enjoyed the use of color in this book and the art used in "the blue" in particular.
I really enjoyed the use of color in this book and the art used in "the blue" in particular.
January 17, 2023
Another great one from DC! A heartfelt story about finding your musical voice. Wonderfully illustrated, like the music is coming off the page 🎺
August 31, 2022
Phenomenal graphic novel with a captivating infectious narrative and colorfully vivid dynamic artwork that explores the engrossing worlds of human spirit, music and artistic passion as only award-winning author/illustrator Dave Chisholm can. Enter The Blue .... if you dare! FIVE STARS 🌟
February 10, 2024
Dave puts so much love, care, and attention to detail into this comic and uses the medium to its full advantage here. Phenomenal art, writing, musical insight, and all-around great read. Highly recommended
January 2, 2023
Totally gorgeous and a beautiful journey through various jazz artists throughout history as well as a concept that improvising artists hold near and dear. It's clear that this book was written by a musician (specifically, a trumpet player) and it's an instant favorite for me.
April 9, 2023
It should come as no surprise that comics creator Dave Chisholm is also an accomplished jazz musician because, like jazz music, his comics are all about taking the familiar into thrilling, unexpected places. With “Canopus,” Chisholm used the lost-in-space sci-fi trope to explore the furthest reaches of the human mind. In “Chasin’ The Bird,” he subverted the usual musical biography format to present a fractured, nuanced look at a legendary innovator. Now, with “Enter The Blue,” perhaps his most ambitious and best work to date, Chisholm takes what could have been a very standard account of the founding of influential jazz label Blue Note Records and turns it into a metaphysical treasure hunt and meditation on perfectionism as the enemy of creation. But, you know, while spotlighting some incredible jazz albums and artists. “Enter The Blue” is an entrancing, triumphant piece of art in its own right, but it’s also a worthy tribute to a record label that has forever changed the trajectory of jazz (and, from a commercial standpoint, the graphic novel definitely did its job because, when I finished reading it, I bought six Blue Note albums off of iTunes).
December 3, 2022
As a lover of jazz, comics, and playing trumpet, all my boxes were checked for Into the Blue. So yeah, my bias lends itself to me liking this work by Dave Chisholm. Bias aside, the story was excellent, the characters were relatable and the artwork was dope. Looking forward to more from Dave. Would even like to see him go deeper into the blue w a sequel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews