Posted on: Friday, December 27, 2002
Big names on board for yearlong salute to blues
| • | Got those blues? Prepare for year's focus on music |
By Edna Gundersen
USA Today
Converts know there's nothing monochromatic about the blues, a vital and earthy musical wellspring that fed jazz, rock and country as it snaked into countless tributaries.
In 2003, the blues get red-hot in a yearlong Year of the Blues toast, designed to indulge believers and indoctrinate the uninitiated. An overview:
• TYOB's cornerstone is "The Blues," PBS's fall series of seven 90-minute films, a project that executive producer Martin Scorsese has been fleshing out for six years. He directs "From Mali to Mississippi," chronicling the music's path from the Niger River to the muddy Mississippi Delta with archival footage and performances by Ali Farka Touri, Salif Keita, Habib Koiti and Taj Mahal.
Series producer Alex Gibney says directors were asked to focus on separate veins and eras. "We didn't want seven films on Robert Johnson," he says.
Charles Burnett's "Warmin' by the Devil's Fire" examines the clash of gospel and blues as seen by a Mississippi boy in 1955. Richard Pearce pays homage to blues legend B.B. King in "The Road to Memphis," featuring glimpses of Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf and Fats Domino. Wim Wenders' "The Soul of a Man" uses archival footage and fiction to honor Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J.B. Lenoir, whose songs are covered by such current acts as Bonnie Raitt, Nick Cave and Los Lobos.
Clint Eastwood directs "Piano Blues," punctuated with commentary and performances by Little Richard, Dr. John and Ray Charles.
Marc Levin's "Godfathers and Sons," spotlighting Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush and Koko Taylor, investigates Chicago blues with rap pioneer Chuck D. In Mike Figgis' "Red, White and Blues," Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Tom Jones perform and discuss music from the '60s British Invasion, which reintroduced the blues to U.S. audiences.
• Veteran and contemporary blues artists will rally for a benefit concert Feb. 7 at New York's Radio City Music Hall, to be filmed for theatrical release later.
• The Blues Music Foundation, a new non-profit group, will funnel proceeds from the concert and other events to blues-related programs nationwide.
• EMP is unveiling a comprehensive Web site at www.yearoftheblues.org.
• A 13-part series tracing the odyssey of the blues will be broadcast in the fall on NPR.
• Amistad, a HarperCollins imprint, plans to publish a hardcover companion to the PBS series with a historical essay by Robert Santelli, archival materials from Peter Guralnick and observations by Elmore Leonard, Studs Terkel, Nick Cave and others.
• Sony and Universal are sharing catalogs to produce a four-CD box set, soundtracks, a best-of blues set, DVDs and more.
• Sweet Home Chicago, a blues exhibit showcasing the evolution of styles from 1946 to 1966, makes its debut in the fall at Seattle's Experience Music Project before traveling to other sites through 2005. "We're known for exhibits that use interactivity to help tell a story," EMP director Robert Santelli says. "The blues is such a roots-music form that we also want a sense of authenticity that doesn't rely on technology." The exhibit will focus on the golden age of blues, with emphasis on the Chicago boom and electric modern blues.
• EMP is assembling educational materials tied to the PBS series for teachers and students nationwide. "We're looking at ways to find a home in a very tight curriculum," Santelli says.
