Directed by Mike Figgis
Director Mike Figgis (Stormy Monday, Leaving Las
Vegas, Time Code) joins musicians such as Van
Morrison, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Tom Jones, performing and talking about the
music of the early sixties British invasion that reintroduced the blues sound to America.
During the 1960s, the UK was the location for a vibrant social
revolution. London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle all had their
own music scenes. Musicians from Belfast and Glasgow moved to London to be part
of the club scene there.
The post-war traditional jazz and folk revival movements produced
the fertile ground for a new kind of blues music entirely influenced by
the authentic black blues of the USA, and, for the most part, entirely ignored by
the good citizens of the US. It was new in the sense that certain key musicians
took the blues and molded it in an entirely personal way to fit the new awareness
of the UK in the sixties. Importantly, for the most part they continued to pay
homage to the originators of the music and to make a huge global audience aware
of the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Freddie King, etc.
Mike Figgis' film examines the circumstances of this vibrant
period. Figgis himself participated, albeit in a minor way, in this period of
history, playing in a blues band with Bryan Ferry, a band that was the nucleus
for the first Roxy Music.
A series of musical interviews with the key players of the
blues movement is augmented with a live session at the famous Abbey Road
recording studios. Tom Jones, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, and Lulu all
improvise around some classic blues standards, accompanied by a superb
band made up of younger and not-so-younger-musicians. The results are electrifying.
Says Figgis: "I'm interested in why there was such
excitement about this black music among Europeans. To that end, I've
put together a group of these musicians, augmenting the line-up with
some younger talent as well. Hopefully the resulting recording session
of some blues standards, and the discussions that follow, shine some
light on why at a particular moment the blues was reinterpreted abroad
and reintroduced in a new form that was universally embraced."
Performances in Red, White & Blues
Jeff Beck
Big Bill Broonzy *
Cream *
Lonnie Donnegan
Georgie Fame
Chris Farlowe
Tom Jones
B.B. King
Peter King
Alexis Korner *
Albert Lee
Lulu
Humphrey Lyttelton
Sonny Terry * & Brownie McGhee *
Van Morrison
Rolling Stones *
Sister Rosetta Tharpe *
Muddy Waters *
Lead Belly *
Jon Cleary
*indicates archival performance
Interviews in Red, White & Blues
Tom Jones
Jeff Beck
Van Morrison
John Porter
Humphrey Lyttelton
George Melly
Lonnie Donnegan
Chris Barber
Eric Clapton
John Mayall
B.B. King
Albert Lee
Chris Farlowe
Bert Jansch
Eric Burdon
Stevie Winwood
Davey Graham
Georgie Fame
Mick Fleetwood
Peter Green
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