Body & Soul:

An American Bridge

The secret racial history of America’s most-recorded song.

Directed by Dr. Robert Philipson

Out of all the cross-cultural encounters that have resulted in the richness of American popular music, none has been so prominent or so fraught with fraternity and conflict as the relationships between African Americans and American Jews. Body and Soul: An American Bridge teases out the strands of this cultural knot. Discover the little known Jewish composer of the song, Johnny Green, winner of five Oscars; hear the sad sexy story of torch singer Libby Holman; see a very stoned Louis Armstrong wearing his Star of David; find out how Benny Goodman was forced to smash the color barrier in jazz performance. All this and more spins out of the first years of “Body and Soul,” well before the iconic Coleman Hawkins performance assured its immortality in the jazz firmament.

New Paragraph

"Filmmaker Robert Philipson has dug deeper into the song. His documentary “Body and Soul: An American Bridge” examines the complicated relationship between Jewish and African-American culture by way of music." 

-Gabbie Watts, NPR