Deep Blues

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books on Blues Music
Review: This is one of the best books on the evolution of modern music that I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Who"s The White Guy?
Review: This movie is the end result of ten long hard years of playing Beale ST night clubs with Blind Mississippi Morris.Everythig in this movie points out the struggle of trying to stay alive in a world of poverty.The band backing Big Jack in the movie was Blind Morris" Beale ST club band "The Blues Connection".We Just thought it was a video,but when we got to Clarksdale we saw a full blown movie production aimed straight at us.We had never played a lick with Big Jack before filming started.Everything in the film is improvised.Oddly enough Blind Morris got cut from the final screening.There must enough out takes to release Deep Blues2.Many songs such as "Chinese Blues" never made it to the big screen.This movie is the real thing.Big Jack has to be the best all around blues player in the known universe.Power,speed feeling,raw but beautifull,blues icon etc.Electric neon bluesman.Big Jack is all of these.We played the Sunflower festivals for years now at the train depo in the center of Clarksdale.I'm well pleased some attention has finally come to Jack. I love you Jack; Sincerely Steve Kaplan,your biggest fan and white boy keyboard man.

Rating:
Summary: Deep Blues
Review: This non-fiction account of the history and connections between the greatest 'Delta Blues' singers belting out acoustic blues in the rustic dance halls of the delta is by far the best blues-related book I have ever read. Do yourself a favor and listen to some of the recordings if you can get your hands on them. As good as this book is, the blues are about the music, not how well someone can write about it.

Rating:
Summary: There is no better (that I know of) window on MS Blues
Review: When I was in my early 20s I lived in Mississippi, visited the juke joints and became a great fan of not only delta blues but the then little known north MS "hill country" blues. This indoctrination occured in the early 70s. I heard RL Burnside and Mr Kimbrough when they were much younger and I can tell you that this documentary is testimony to their virtuosity as Mississippi state treasures, bluesmen extrodinare. Rl's non pretentious manner and performance of "Jumper on the Line" will give the listener and viewer a good representation of the hard driving style of MS hill country blues. The camera angles and brief glimpses of the typical surroundings give the viewer a hefty slice of what one would encounter on a soujorn to listen to this style of blues in its own "backyard". An especially charming performance of Lonnie Pitchford playing a wire strung up off the porch of his house like a slide guitar is absolutely stunning. Dave Stewart of the Eurithmics joins Robert Palmer as musical guides through this musical adventure. There is even a short piece on a store on Beale Street in Memphis that has survived through the years that still sells "John the Conquerer root" and "Mojo hand". This DVD offers just about everything but dissapointment.

Rating:
Summary: There is no better (that I know of) window on MS Blues
Review: When I was in my early 20s I lived in Mississippi, visited the juke joints and became a great fan of not only delta blues but the then little known north MS "hill country" blues. This indoctrination occured in the early 70s. I heard RL Burnside and Mr Kimbrough when they were much younger and I can tell you that this documentary is testimony to their virtuosity as Mississippi state treasures, bluesmen extrodinare. Rl's non pretentious manner and performance of "Jumper on the Line" will give the listener and viewer a good representation of the hard driving style of MS hill country blues. The camera angles and brief glimpses of the typical surroundings give the viewer a hefty slice of what one would encounter on a soujorn to listen to this style of blues in its own "backyard". An especially charming performance of Lonnie Pitchford playing a wire strung up off the porch of his house like a slide guitar is absolutely stunning. Dave Stewart of the Eurithmics joins Robert Palmer as musical guides through this musical adventure. There is even a short piece on a store on Beale Street in Memphis that has survived through the years that still sells "John the Conquerer root" and "Mojo hand". This DVD offers just about everything but dissapointment.