Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue by Dave Chisholm is my 39th read of 2026. I read the ebook edition of this graphic novel and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish! Dave Chisholm is super talented. He is both the writer and illustrator for Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue. Dave Chisholm is also a new to me author.
The artwork and storyline for this graphic novel are amazing!! See the following book trailer I discovered on YouTube to see a glimpse of the artwork and storyline.
If you are a jazz music enthusiast or a lover of graphic novels with a great storyline and artwork, then Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue is the read for you! Jessie Choi is the leading character/protagonist for Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue. Jessie is a trumpet player. She's really good at playing the trumpet. But Jessie freezes up when she plays at live venues. Jessie doesn't feel like she's good enough and keeps comparing herself to another student at her music school.
Jessie eventually becomes a music teacher as she doesn't think she's good enough to play the trumpet professionally. Jessie's mentor, Jimmy Hightower, keeps encouraging her to play the trumpet.
Throughout Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue, we as readers keep seeing the term "the blue"... "The Blue: 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."
"The Blue" is a place where musicians go while they are playing music with passion that they become lost in the music while they are playing. It's like another dimension where time and space don't seem to exist and the jazz players of the past and present can collect and meet up again. It's a surreal concept!
Jimmy Hightower, Jessie's mentor, talked about "The Blue". He is an elderly man and he passes out while playing at a gig. Jimmy is rushed to hospital where he remains in a coma and his health deteriorates over time. Jessie is convinced that Jimmy is stuck in "The Blue" and feels she must rescue Jimmy or he will die.
Jessie starts playing the trumpet again with a group of musicians at a local venue, despite her reluctance to play her trumpet publicly again. Her only objective is to enter "The Blue" in order to save her mentor, Jimmy Hightower. Can Jessie enter "The Blue"? Can Jessie save Jimmy Hightower? Will Jessie overcome her fear to play the trumpet regularly with a band?
Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue by Dave Chisholm combines the above topics and more to create an amazing great read!
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 Blue: 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 question: 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.
I am giving Blue Note Records - Enter the Blue by Dave Chisholm 4.5 stars out of 5 stars.
Until my next post, happy reading!
