Part of the Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues film series, Eastwood’s film and soundtrack stand as a very fine example of that project's spirit. Eastwood, a pretty accomplished jazz pianist on amateur level himself, has a traditional take on the subject matter, as opposed to some of the other films that focused on digging out forgotten pearls or giving surprising historical overviews. Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey is a 2003 box set released on Hip-O Records. It is the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese PBS documentary series The Blues. The box set attempts to present a history of the blues from the dawning of recorded music to the present day. Clint Eastwood's chapter in Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues centers around the piano's role in the development of the blues.In typical Eastwood fashion, he goes not for the easy or common associations of the instrument with the music, but looks expansively at how the restricted sonics of the piano as a melodic instrument and its possibilities as a percussion instrument created a spiralling. Clint Eastwood's chapter in Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues centers around the piano's role in the development of the blues.In typical Eastwood fashion, he goes not for the easy or common associations of the instrument with the music, but looks expansively at how the restricted sonics of the piano as a melodic instrument and its possibilities as a percussion instrument created a spiralling. Under the guiding hand of Executive Producer Martin Scorsese, The Blues™ is a seven-film television series of personal and impressionistic films viewed through the lens of seven world-famous directors who share a passion for blues music. Charles Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Mike Figgis, Marc Levin, Richard Pearce, Martin Scorsese, and Wim Wenders.
Piano Blues | |
---|---|
Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
Produced by | Clint Eastwood Bruce Ricker |
Written by | Peter Guralnick |
Starring | Marcia Ball Dave Brubeck Ray Charles Pinetop Perkins,.. |
Cinematography | Vic Losick |
Edited by | Joel Cox, Gary Roach |
Piano Blues is a 2003 documentary film directed by Clint Eastwood as the seventh installment of the documentary film series The Blues produced by Martin Scorsese. Thinkorswim for mac. The film features interviews and live performances of piano playersRay Charles, Dave Brubeck, Dr. John and Marcia Ball.
In the documentary Eastwood explores his lifelong passion for piano blues and jazz. He interviews artists as Ray Charles, Dr. John, Marcia Ball, Pinetop Perkins, Dave Brubeck, Jay McShann, Henry Gray and shows archival performances of Dorothy Donegan, Fats Domino, Otis Spann, Art Tatum, Albert Simmons, Pete Johnson, Jay McShann, Big Joe Turner, Nat King Cole, Martha Davis, Professor Longhair, Charles Brown and Duke Ellington. Remarkable are two early performances of the Chess Records houseband with Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (bass) and, probably, Fred Below (drums). Mac os for apple.
Eastwood shows his interest in jazz music with an interview and performance of improvising musician Pete Jolly, who introduces Phineas Newborn. Also Oscar Peterson and Thelonious Monk are present in the film with several performances. Eastwood explains his love for piano playing because of how his mother brought many Fats Waller records home saying; 'This is real piano playing!'.
As Clint Eastwood states in the documentary, 'I've always felt that jazz and blues were true American art forms. Maybe the only really original art forms that we have.'
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- Piano Blues on IMDb
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Piano Blues | |
---|---|
Soundtrack album by | |
Released | September 9, 2003 |
Recorded | December 1938 - July 2003 |
Genre | Blues, jazz, stride, boogie-woogie |
Length | 1:15:33 |
Language | English |
Label | Columbia Records, Legacy Recordings, Sony |
Producer | Clint Eastwood, Bruce Ricker, Jeffrey Peisch |
Compiler | Clint Eastwood, Bruce Ricker |
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Piano Blues is the soundtrack to the documentary film directed by Clint Eastwood. This is the seventh part of the critically acclaimed television documentary series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues shown on PBS in September 2003. This collection of music represents what Clint said '..in my film Piano Blues I'm trying to investigate who influenced everyone, and who the great players were.'
Track listing[edit]
Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 'How Long Blues' | Leroy Carr | Jimmy Yancey | 3:01 |
2. | 'Boogie Woogie Prayer. Pt. 1' | Albert Ammons, Meade Lewis, Pete Johnson | The Boogie Woogie Boys | 2:20 |
3. | 'How Long Blues' | Carr | Count Basie And His Orchestra | 3:01 |
4. | 'Driftin' Blues' | Charles Brown, Johnny Moore, Eddie Williams | Johnny Moore's Three Blazers | 3:13 |
5. | 'The Fat Man' | Antoine Domino, Dave Bartholomew | Fats Domino | 2:35 |
6. | 'Tatum Pole Boogie' | Art Tatum | Art Tatum | 2:24 |
7. | 'Tipitina' | Henry Roeland Byrd | Professor Longhair | 2:37 |
8. | 'What'd I Say, Parts 1 and 2' | Ray Charles | Ray Charles | 6:27 |
9. | 'Good Morning Mr. Blues' | Otis Spann | Otis Spann | 3:22 |
10. | 'Backward Country Boy Blues' | Duke Ellington | Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach | 6:19 |
11. | 'Blue Monk' | Thelonious Monk | Thelonious Monk | 6:14 |
12. | 'Piney Brown Blues' | Big Joe Turner, Pete Johnson | Big Joe Turner, Jay McShann | 5:24 |
13. | 'Mission Ranch Blues' | Jay McShann, Dave Brubeck | Jay McShann, Dave Brubeck | 3:47 |
14. | 'The Ladder' | Joe Turner | Big Joe Turner | 2:21 |
15. | 'Honey Dripper' | Joe Liggins | Dr. John | 3:35 |
16. | 'World Full Of People' | Henry Townsend | Henry Townsend | 4:00 |
17. | 'Big Chief' | Earl King | Dr. John | 2:59 |
18. | 'Carmel Blues' | Joe Willie 'Pinetop' Perkins, Marcia Ball | Joe Willie 'Pinetop' Perkins, Marcia Ball | 2:57 |
19. | 'Travelin' Blues' | Dave Brubeck | Dave Brubeck | 3:19 |
20. | 'How Long Blues' | Leroy Carr | Dr. John, Pete Jolly, Henry Gray | 5:13 |
References[edit]
- ^Jurek, Thom. 'Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Piano Blues'. Allmusic. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
- ^PBS: The Songs & The Artists - Piano Blues