Utah Jazz celebrates franchise history with its first feature-length documentary with a free screening party

SALT LAKE CITY — All year long, the Utah Jazz are celebrating their 50th franchise anniversary.

The Jazz have decided to put it all together in a feature-length documentary that fans can watch for free at the Delta Center this weekend.

“There are just so many exciting stories that have not been told in our 50-year history,” said Chris George, senior creative director of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club.

Chris George, the executive creative director of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club, who championed the new documentary. (KSL TV)

George and others took on the “daunting” task of putting together the 90-minute feature film “Note Worthy: 50 Seasons of Jazz Basketball.” George said the project was created ahead of the NBA All-Star Game, which will be held in Salt Lake City in 2023.

“We said we should start capturing a lot of these stories when people come to All-Star to tell the story of our 50th anniversary,” he said. “It started as a podcast and kept expanding as the process went on.”

Jazz and EPSN reporter Holly Rowe in the new documentary. (SEG Media)

George brought the idea to Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz and Smith Entertainment Group, to make a documentary. In June of last year, the Jazz partnered with Heart and Hustle Productions of Portland, Oregon.

“We went through and compiled over 40,000 hours of footage, which ultimately amounted to over 150 terabytes of storage that we shared with our production company,” said George.

The entire project took about 13 months to complete, five of which were dedicated to editing the film.

“We had two full-time editors who were solely dedicated to the actual story of the film, and eight other assistant editors who collected the footage, reviewed it, organized it, contacted the Louisiana State Archives and tracked down all the historical footage that we could then provide to editors in our region. That was a big task in editing,” George said.

The documentary features 70 people who have played a role in Jazz’s past and present, including notable alumni such as John Stockton, Karl Malone and former coach Frank Layden.

Karl Malone is interviewed for the documentary “Note Worthy.” (SEG Media)

“Frank was obviously a great coach, a great (general manager) who helped bring the team together. But his personality also helped get fans in the seats and maybe not just wanting to see a great game, but being part of the experience,” George said.

The documentary itself looks at each decade of the Jazz’s past while also looking to the future. George calls it a gift for fans to relive the teams’ highs and lows, but teaches younger fans “why we are the way we are today.”

“Our past really shapes who we are in the future,” George said.

The free screening of the documentary at the Delta begins at 5 p.m., with doors opening at 4 p.m. The first 500 fans to arrive will receive a pair of tickets to a Jazz preseason game. The documentary can be viewed on Jazz+ starting Monday at 5 p.m. and then on the Utah Jazz YouTube channel at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.