Martin scorsese presents the blues a musical journey
Key British blues-rock musicians such as John Mayall, Peter Green, Eric Burdon and Eric Clapton share memories alongside marvelous clips from the Rolling Stones, Cream, Alexis Korner and others.Įastwood’s effort is the most focused of the lot as he examines his life-long addiction to piano blues with appearances by everyone from Otis Spann, Albert Ammons and Oscar Peterson to Nat King Cole, Art Tatum and the irascible Professor Longhair. Mike Figgis moves across the big pond to affectionately connect the UK’s post-war trad jazz and folk revival movements to another new variety of blues music, solely influenced by the authentic, homemade black blues of the U.S.A. Soul shaking sounds from Otis Rush, Sam Lay, Juice, Phil Upchurch, Ahmir Thompson and Morris Jennings amplify Levin’s ambitious thesis. Marc Levin, on the other hand, presents a verite-driven film with hip-hop innovator Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess (heir to the Chess Records legacy) returning to Chicago to examine the heyday of the crucial Windy City blues scene.
![martin scorsese presents the blues a musical journey martin scorsese presents the blues a musical journey](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/133773190039_/Martin-Scorsese-Presents-the-Blues-A-Musical-Journey.jpg)
The most personal of the films, Burnett ruminatively utilizes the blues as a wellspring of irony, insight, balance and humor that is universal in scope.
Martin scorsese presents the blues a musical journey series#
Featuring performances by Howling Wolf, Little Milton, Ike Turner, Little Richard and Rufus Thomas, the pair also document the gestation of the music with a series of interviews with local movers and shakers like Sam Phillips of Sun Records and longtime radio station executives.īurnett, like Wenders, also dramatizes the interplay between Gospel (Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Reverend Gary Davis) and the blues as he boldly mixes autobiographical storytelling with documentary footage of blues legends such as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Victoria Spivey, Mamie Smith and Jelly Roll Morton. Pearce and Kenners’ Road to Memphis opus is a loving tribute to the city that birthed a new style of crossover blues in the 1950s. Lenoir through the music of Alvin Youngblood Hart, Lou Reed(!), James Blood Ulmer and Lucinda Williams among others. Wenders offers an extended essay on the dramatic tension between the sacred and profane by exploring the lives of Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J.B. Scorsese ranges from the banks of the Niger River in Mali to the rough and tumble juke joints of the Mississippi Delta with the affable Corey Harris as a guide. The films reveal the blues’ global influences and organic evolutionary process–from its parochial and traditional sources and distinctly rhythmic African roots to its widespread inspirational role on the current music scene.Įach director refreshingly employs his own unique approach to the theme. The feature length productions, by Scorsese, Charles Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Mike Figgis, Marc Levin, Wim Wender, and the duo of Richard Pearce and Robert Kenner, engagingly ensnare the variegated heart and soul of the idiom.
![martin scorsese presents the blues a musical journey martin scorsese presents the blues a musical journey](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/iiEAAOSwAWxf1~T1/s-l400.jpg)
Under the guiding hand of acclaimed director Martin Scorsese, The Blues is an eye-opening and long over due seven DVD project (originally aired on PBS Television) of emotionally resonant, impressionistic films seen through the lenses of eight world-famous directors who share his passion for the music. VARIOUS Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues Hip-O (CD) 0393 Various Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: a Musical Journey