The Black Fire Record company was founded in 1975 by Jimmy Gray and J. Plunky Branch, two iconic names in the music business, synonymous with creativity and commitment. Black Fire Records was established to amplify and produce culturally relevant jazz and progressive original music for the Washington, DC community. This small, independent label would go on to revolutionize the music business, nationally and internationally.

The acclaimed, 28-minute Black Fire Documentary recounts the story of the label’s founders and the musicians, producers and radio personalities they influenced. The film depicts iconic images of the 1970s & 80s and speaks to how the music and activism of that era shaped the terrain of independent music business and paved the way for innovative jazz, hip-hop, deejays and Afro-future creatives.

“In the 1970s, Washington-based Black Fire Records was simultaneously an incubator and reliquary of D.C.’s African American music and culture and a living symbol of the Black Power and Black Consciousness movements.” - Michael J. West, Washington Post
Director Biography - Kia Freeman-Hicks, Patrick Mamou