Earth, Wind & Fire: (TO BE CELESTIAL VS. THAT’S THE WEIGHT OF THE

Did you know that EWF’s hit song with Phillip Bailey’s unmistakable falsetto “Reasons” was NOT a love song? Or, that Maurice White started out as part of the Ramsey Lewis trio and that EWF inspired such legends as Stevie Wonder and Prince? These are just a few nuggets dropped by acclaimed producer, director, and musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson about the legendary nine-time Grammy^® Award-winning band Earth, Wind & Fire aka the elements..

Exploring the band’s evolution from jazz to soul, R&B, Afro-funk, disco, and beyond, this rich documentary details how founder Maurice White wove his spiritual, metaphysical, and astrological passions into the band’s genre-spanning songwriting and increasingly theatrical live shows in an effort to unite a wide and diverse audience. White would bring in Tony-winning choreographer George Faison to stage their “All in All” tour, legendary magician Doug Henning to teach them tricks that involved disappearing pyramids and Verdine White never skipping a note while being elevated sideways.

It goes without saying that every group has its skisms as soon as the element of success takes hold. but, White’s three step vision for the group then and now has never wavered – To create music for a universal audience, to evolve consciousness and to change the world.

Not having the privilege of ever witnessing them live, Thompson’s select archival footage puts me in a front row seat to a group whose success had many fathers, but in the end experienced the failure of being an orphan. An entity in a world of musicians whose fingerprint was only as memorable as the sum of its totality as unified body of artists. Maurice White may have been taken from this realm by Parkinson’s Disease, but his legacy sound lives on through his band members and eternal flame fans – of which I would be one

Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS. That’s The Weight of the World) is a loving celebration of a complex artist, the enduring legacy of an iconic sound that spans decades, and a joyful tribute to the band’s far-reaching cultural impact.