Directors

Sam Osborn & Nick Capezzera

Producers

Leah Natasha Thomas & Esther Dere

Executive Producers

Carmelo Anthony

Joe Gebbia & Ken Kitchings

“Universe stands as an admiring, intimate portrait — a touching elegy etched in a valedictory frame.”

The Hollywood Reporter

“An elegant and candid work which celebrates the excitement of a musical genre at its most highly developed”

Screen Daily

“An essential text on one’s battle with their own art and love for it, Universe is a profoundly nuanced character study that, at just 78 minutes, is a brisk and thrilling deep dive into the life and work of one of jazz musics most underrated titans.”

Criterion Cast

Written by

Wayne Shorter

Meant for

Miles Davis

Performed by

Wallace Roney

At the height of the Miles Davis Quintet’s fame in 1966, Wayne Shorter wrote a suite of orchestral jazz songs entitled “The Universe Compositions.” Intended for a 24-piece orchestra, the compositions were immense, ambitious works that answered the call of psychedelic rock-n-roll, cool jazz, and the rigors of classical music. When Miles first saw the sheet music, he looked up at Shorter and said, “I asked for a song and you gave me a fuckin' symphony.” 

The band had begun rehearsing the compositions when the Quintet dissolved. As the band fell apart, The Universe Compositions were lost. It was Miles’ final wish before he passed away in 1991 that Wayne Shorter “find the music.” 50 years after their disappearance, The Universe Compositions are recovered by Miles’ only protege, Wallace Roney, and debuted for the first time in history.

The story of Wallace Roney and The Universe Compositions is the story of missing links. Universe is the piece of music that would have bridged two eras of jazz. It is the masterpiece that Miles Davis never recorded. And for Wallace Roney, it was the bridge between mentorship and mastery.

The work took on an added poignancy when Wallace unexpectedly passed away in March 2020 before seeing the music's release out in the world.

Wallace staked his entire life on the belief that jazz is not just a music of the past; that it still retains the power to uplift whole communities; that it is spiritual, difficult, and satisfying and can speak to the African-American experience. As Wallace Roney puts it, “Jazz was the music that my father and his friends used to uplift themselves. To better themselves.” 

Sam Osborn

CO-DIRECTOR

Sam’s second feature, Going Varsity in Mariachi, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was an award winner in the U.S. Documentary Competition. His short film Folk Frontera was awarded the Jury Prize for Texas Short Film at SXSW 2022 and premiered on PBS’ The Latino Experience. Other works include Varsity Oro for Pop-Up Magazine, Night Shift and Eating for Topic, and Language Keepers, a hybrid documentary project meant to help sustain the endangered Athabaskan language of Gwich’in, which premiered at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Nick Capezzera

CO-DIRECTOR

In 2020, Nick is the co-producer and co-cinematographer of the documentary short, Maia Cruz Palileo - Becoming the Moon, which premiered on PBS, the co-producer and cinematographer of the 2021 documentary film Building a Bridge, about a priest's journey to make the catholic church more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the film world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, had its broadcast premiere on Sundance TV and is currently streaming on AMC+. In 2022 Nick was awarded the Leanne Ka’iulani Ferrer fellowship for his next project, a memoir film about his experience as a Korean adoptee. 

Leah Natasha Thomas

PRODUCER

Leah Natasha Thomas is the producer behind such films as 25 to Life (Netflix, 2014), 3 1/2 Minutes (HBO, 2015) which was shortlisted for the 2015 Academy Awards, America Divided (EPIX, 2016), and the Emmy-nominated Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (Netflix, 2022). She Executive Produced the 2022 Academy Award-nominated documentary The First Wave (Nat Geo, 2021).

Esther Dere

PRODUCER

Esther is an Emmy nominated producer & filmmaker. Her credits include Biggie: The Life of the Notorious B.I.G. (A&E, 2017), Grass is Greener (Netflix, 2019), Empires of New York (CNBC, 2020). In 2021 Esther joined the team at Left /Right as Executive Producer and is currently the showrunner of The New York Times Presents, where among many episodes, she produced The Legacy of J Dilla (FX/Hulu, 2023).