Musical director and composer for the documentary project is David Baker. Dr. Baker is an award-winning performer, composer, and educator who is a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award nominee. He is the recipient of many honors, including the National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award and the National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters Award. He is the conductor and artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and has performed all over the world with bands that featured Quincy Jones, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, and Lionel Hampton. His compositions, which include jazz, symphonic and chamber works, total more than 2,000 in number.

Dr. Baker is an active member of the National Council on the Arts, the board of the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center, and the Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is President of the National Jazz Service Organization and senior consultant for music programs for the Smithsonian Institution. He has more than 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles to his credit.