"The Blues" series on PBS

[Brad]

Lon,

You're totally right about being a marvel. I'm not a guitarist but it sounded to me like he did things that are hard to surpass. I think it's about time that I pick up some of his recordings which I haven't listened to in a long time. What also struck me from the Cavett interview, aside from the points you mention, was how humble he was. That's one thing you don't usually get from rock stars. But no matter how Dick tried, Hendrix wouldn't take credit for being the best.

[jazzbo]

"I think I may be the best guitarist sitting in this chair"~! Yes, humility was exhibited often in his manner and character.

The good news Brad is that the versions of his material released by the family now are in fantastic sound compared to earlier digital versions; I think you'll have fun hearing and exploring them. (Also there are some mail order only items that are worth investigating --especially "Morning Symphony Ideas"--from the family at the link below)

http://www.daggerrecords.com/

[Jim Alfredson]

The guitarist from my R&B band was talking about this last night... one thing he mentioned, which I thought was interesting, is that he was upset at the show because everyone was saying, "Jimi was great, he was the shit..." etc etc.

He claims that the brothers (and by that he means, generally, black musicians of the time, mainly in the blues vein) didn't get Jimi. In fact, a lot of them bad-mouthed him. He claims that Albert King said some horrible things about Jimi.

Is this true? His point was that the film should've made mention of the fact that a lot of people in the blues community didn't get what Jimi was doing for a long time and dissed him.

Right or wrong?

[Christiern]

Right!

[jazzbo]

I think it is correct that many didn't "get" him at the time. And I think that bitterness over his success played a part, that's just my guess from some of what I have read and seen.

I wish he had lived another few decades at least! He was moving into waters that would have really made interesting music if he could have gotten it released (I'm not sure he could have done that with either Jeffries or Douglas though.)

[The Mule]

Chris, Charles Burnett's segment of "The Blues" sounds like a disaster (haven't seen any of them myself), but I have seen two of his fiction films, "To Sleep With Anger" (1990) and "The Glass Shield" (1994), and they were excellent, especially the first one. Later on he did cross paths with Oprah on a project ("The Wedding"), which may have messed up his mind.

I've taped this segment but haven't watched it yet. I spoke to a friend who has really liked the first three episodes of the series and is a big Charles Burnett fan and he thought the Burnett episode was a disaster too.

I'm almost afraid to watch it now....

[Noj]

I was flipping through channels last night and stopped on last night's installment when I spotted Chuck D and it looked like he was singing. Since my TV was on mute as usual, I hit pause on my music and turned up the TV volume to hear what exactly Chuck D was up to.

By crikey, I was embarassed for him.

I had a good chuckle, returned my TV to mute, took my music off pause, and changed the channel. Should have left it on the Yankee game.

[maren]

Chris, Charles Burnett's segment of "The Blues" sounds like a disaster (haven't seen any of them myself), but I have seen two of his fiction films, "To Sleep With Anger" (1990) and "The Glass Shield" (1994), and they were excellent, especially the first one. Later on he did cross paths with Oprah on a project ("The Wedding"), which may have messed up his mind.

I've taped this segment but haven't watched it yet. I spoke to a friend who has really liked the first three episodes of the series and is a big Charles Burnett fan and he thought the Burnett episode was a disaster too.

I'm almost afraid to watch it now....

Well, as with the other episodes, it has great archival footage and seems to let those performances run more completely. For me, it was worth watching just to see Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Also, Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Cotten, that Son House clip again, and the actual voice of W.C. Handy reminiscing about his first job in Memphis... Footage of chain gangs working while work songs (probably Lomax recording?) played... This was all amazing.

The dramatized story -- well, it was often stilted, contrived, even cringeworthy -- but then (probably with the help of some wine) it just started to feel like a whole lot of stuff on TV ambiently when my son was young, and I just kind of accepted it on some "after-school-special" level aimed at a "family" audience and let myself get riveted by the good parts. One moment of the "movie" that got to me showed the young boy standing on his uncle's country porch by himself, idly twanging the loose wires on the porch screen door -- I had a lot of those moments as a kid -- now that I'm grown up, I would call them "stoned" and it usually takes some assistance (aforementioned drink, for instance) to get there -- but now I'm remembering how easily a sound, an angle of the sunlight, or being in a strange place would put me there as a kid -- I defer to other's judgments about the Burnett piece as a whole, but three or four moments are really going to stay with me as saying something subtle and profound about music, inspiration, high-ness, how to reclaim happiness and spirit and hope through making your body make music: Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("I hear music in the air above my head, and I know there's a heaven up there" -- it was so mystical, joyous, sweet, physical, with personal delight, totally nonpreachy, the polar opposite of bombast), the kid on the porch, the work gang/work song, and a guitar player whose name I won't know until I can afford a new TV! (mine is going blurry and I can't read small titles -- guess the blurriness wasn't a bad effect to add to stilted screenplay though!)

[Christiern]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight made a great recording of "Up Above My Head (I Hear Music in the Air)" for Decca.

[maren]

Thanks for the tip, Chris.

[Adam]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight made a great recording of "Up Above My Head (I Hear Music in the Air)" for Decca.

I have that song on a mixed tape. I think it is in the Sister Rosetta Tharpe Proper box.

[bluenoter]

Re the Burnett episode, Warming by the Devil's Fire:

Well, as with the other episodes, it has great archival footage and seems to let those performances run more completely. For me, it was worth watching just to see Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Also, Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Cotten, that Son House clip again, and the actual voice of W.C. Handy reminiscing about his first job in Memphis... Footage of chain gangs working while work songs (probably Lomax recording?) played... This was all amazing. --Maren

That sums it up for me too. I didn't mind the framing story, and I didn't really mind the chronological jumble of the musical selections--the order seemed to make a kind of sense on a nonrational, artistic level.

IMO there's no reason to avoid the episode, and there are very good reasons to catch it.

Edited October 4, 2003 by bluenoter

[Christiern]

IMO there's no reason to avoid the episode, and there are very good reasons to catch it.

• That's an opinion I share.
  
  I thought last night's show was interesting, although Lulu was a misfit--Tom Jones was less of a sore thumb. I guess I mainly enjoyed it because I can identify with the early British jazz/skiffle scene. Humphrey Lyttleton was the first person I ever interviewed (in 1953), and Ken Colyer's band (with Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber) was the first group I recorded for commercial release. I had memorable experiences hanging out with these guys, as well as Johnny Parker (the pianist on "Bad Penny Blues") and George Melly, who used to sing Bessie Smith songs with Mick Mulligan's band in a funny little London joint called The Metro. It was an interesting scene and my first real encounter with the off-stage jazz world.
  
  Sure, a lot was left unsaid, and too much time was spent on Lulu and Tom Jones, IMO, but I was not bored.
  
  So far, the series has either omitted many important blues performers, and made only cursory mention of others, but that's to be expected, I guess--especially when each episode has a different producer. I also wonder why the female (so-called "classic") blues singers barely got a mention.
  
  I hope the final episode, focusing on piano blues, will spend some time on such artists as Leroy Carr, Champion Jack Dupree, and Jimmy Yancey.
  

[The Mule]

Well, I'm glad there are some more favorable reports of the Burnett episode. I'll be sure to watch it.

I enjoyed last nights as well and agree there was a little too much time spent with Tom Jones. I thought some of the interviews--especially with the older guys--were really interesting.

What did you guys think of the Chicago blues episode? I haven't seen that one yet but a friend of mine (who is from Chicago like I am) loved it, although he admitted it might have been pure homesickness and nostalgia...

[Christiern]

• I found it interesting. It focused on Chess Records' contribution to the Chicago blues scene and sought somewhat successfully to show a correlation between urban blues and rap. The rap/blues fusion session fell a bit flat, I'm afraid--they reunited the original band from Muddy Waters' "Electric" album and threw in a couple of rappers and a scratcher, but it didn't work for me. I also think that Chess came on a bit strong and, at times, patronizing. I realize that he has been around black people for most of his life, but his seeming acculturation struck me as somewhat forced. That, of course, does not in any way diminish the importance of the label his father and uncle founded.
  

Edited October 4, 2003 by Christiern

[RonF]

Those are fascinating stories Chris, as usual. I remember hearing Lulu's name years ago. Can't quite remember if she was in British Pop. Personally, I thought she sang the hell out of Drown In My Own Tears. I missed the very start so there may have been mention of a Tom Jones connection to that blues scene, I don't know. Regardless, there was way too much of him for my taste. I thought all of the interviews were interesting. And Rosetta. Man! B)

[Christiern]

I believe Lulu made her mark when she sang the title song in "To Sir, With Love."

[RonF]

I believe Lulu made her mark when she sang the title song in "To Sir, With Love."

Ah-ha! Right you are. Regarding Tom Jones....why was he in this Chris? Do you know?

[Christiern]

I believe Lulu made her mark when she sang the title song in "To Sir, With Love."

Ah-ha! Right you are. Regarding Tom Jones....why was he in this Chris? Do you know?

I believe Jones sang some blues in the early stages of his career, but I suspect that he was included here more for his celebrity than for his relevance to the subject.

[Tjazz]

The Blues show hasn't impressed me much.

Tom Jones?

Van Morrison?

Beck?

Anyway, I just picked up some Blues DVDs which I think are more to my taste;

THE AMERICAN FOLK BLUES FESTIVAL 1962-1966 Vol. 1 & 2. (2 separate DVDs)

Love them.

[7/4]

Those are fascinating stories Chris, as usual. I remember hearing Lulu's name years ago. Can't quite remember if she was in British Pop. Personally, I thought she sang the hell out of Drown In My Own Tears. I missed the very start so there may have been mention of a Tom Jones connection to that blues scene, I don't know. Regardless, there was way too much of him for my taste. I thought all of the interviews were interesting. And Rosetta. Man! B)

I agree about Lulu, I think that track is amazing. My complaint is that they didn't show enough Jeff Beck!!!

[7/4]

Anyway, I just picked up some Blues DVDs which I think are more to my taste;

THE AMERICAN FOLK BLUES FESTIVAL 1962-1966 Vol. 1 & 2. (2 separate DVDs)

Love them.

I received my copies a few days ago. I love 'em.

[jazzbo]

I thought the Eastwood film was pretty darned good. I sort of wish he had hired a professional interviewer; he didn't get much out of several of those pianists himself!

[The Mule]

I thought the Eastwood film was pretty darned good. I sort of wish he had hired a professional interviewer; he didn't get much out of several of those pianists himself!

I agree. Clint seemed to have one question: "So who first inspired you to play the blues?"

Otherwise it was a pretty good show. A bit scant on historical information, but at least he let people play entire tunes.

[Jim R]

Well, I never managed to catch a few of the episodes from the series until recently. Between my kids comandeering the TV's, and PBS going into a sickening pledge drive phase recently (every time I turn them on it's either one of those "Managing Your Money" deals or "This Land Is Your Land" and people clapping on 1 and 3 for 4 hours a night). At least Riverdance hasn't been on here for awhile.

Anyway, I managed to catch the "Red White and Blues" film recently, and really enjoyed it. Intelligent, reverent and focused, I thought. It flowed very well, and the scope of the interviews was very impressive. As soon as it was over, I wanted to go back and watch it again (should have taped it).

Also, a friend was kind enough to loan me a tape of the Eastwood film, which I watched yesterday. I agree with the criticisms cited above, as well as the praise. Overall, I just enjoyed the music, and the great (and I assume rare, in some cases) film clips.

A couple of questions. First, does anybody know the source of that Nat Cole Trio footage? I've never seen it before, but I'm not really an avid video collector. I really dug it, especially the clarity of the image, way the camera took it in from different angles, and included plenty of shots of the great Oscar Moore.

Also, one thing that really knocked me out was that first solo piece that Brubeck played with Eastwood sitting next to him, listening. That brought tears to my eyes, and made me realize that I haven't paid much attention to Brubeck's more recent playing. At any rate, when I went to view the credits at the end of the film, I couldn't read them (too small, and the quality of the tape dub wasn't too good). So, if anybody can tell me what that piece was called, I would be much obliged.