the recent offering of films on the blues on pbs was most welcome. martin scorsese presents a series of features by a variety of directors. i missed scorsese's flick, but enjoyed the rest. i particularly liked wim wenders look at blind willie johnson, skip james, and j.b. lenoir. at first i thought it was kind of cheesy to use a handcrank camera and have someone act like blind willie, but i have to admit i can't get the images out of my head. the attempt really did fit the mournful voice. people say tom waits sounds like he swallowed broken glass or gravel - he's got nothing on blind willie johnson. pick up a copy of dark was the night and shake your head in disbelief at how sincere it is. "soul of a man" is powerful enough to draw tears. his rendition of "john the revelator" will knock you over (and if you like that one don't forget to check out son houses' take on this traditional).
as well, the wenders film had a bunch of contemporary musicians make their own attempt at some of these songs. nick cave and the bad seeds, beck, the jon spencer blues explosion, marc ribot and lucinda williams make memorable appearances.
next came richard pearce's film the road to memphis. this one focuses on bobby rush, rosco gordon, b.b. king and other greats. what hit me most about this one was how hard these old guys still work, touring across the country to make ends meet. bobby rush is a workaholic. there is also an awkward scene with ike turner and sam phillips (sun records). phillips comes across as a bit of a madman.
the rest of the films in the series have their moments. charles burnett's warming by the devil's fire has some really great archival footage. marc levin's godfathers and sons has chuck d and marshall chess (of the chess records family) talk a lot about the blues, and provides some good archival footage, as well (muddy waters, howlin' wolf). chuck d is a funny guy, and i will always give him credit for helping light my political consciousness while i grew up with early public enemy albums (it takes a nation of millions... blew my young mind).
mike figgis gives us an interesting perspective on the blues with his red, white and blues, examining the relationship between british musicians of the 60s and classic blues artists. it proposes that the british blues rock performers helped break the blues through to a mainstream american audience. the irony being that it took foreigners to take a country's great musical culture, reinterpret it, and give it back to the americans.
finally, clint eastwood provides a personal view on the blues through his simply titled piano blues. there are quality performances by the likes of pinetop perkins, dr john, dave brubeck, and ray charles. although eastwood comes across as a schoolboy getting to interview his heroes, it is a highly watchable film. particularly amusing scene in which ray charles refers to someone playing fast as a motherfucker. clint eastwood gets embarrassed and laughs his ass off, shyly asking if they can say motherfucker.
at the end of this though, i still find myself going back to robert johnson, blind willie, and son house. i like blues that are simple and raw. i also like robert belfour (he played briefly and wonderfully in one of the films in the additional footage) for his strumming technique and lyricism. while i enjoy the likes of r.l. burnside, or eric clapton's more soulful moments, nothing kicks me in the head like scratchy recordings of those who told us about their short brutal lives in song.
{October 06, 2003 09:44 PM}