Since 1976, Robert Mugge has created thirty six documentaries over four decades about various aspects of American culture, with particular emphasis on traditional forms of American music.  

Mentioned in his book Notes From The Road: A Filmmaker’s Journey through American Music Mugge views life through the lens of music, and he likens his four-person film crew to a jazz or rock quartet. He shifts his camera lens deftly from classical music to bluegrass to jazz to Tex-Mex to gospel to reggae to Hawaiian slack-key guitar.

Black Wax is a portrait of poet-singer-songwriter Gil Scott-Heron filmed at the Wax Museum Nightclub, at national monuments, and in local neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. The night concludes with an outtake of Gil Scott Heron's "Is That Jazz?"