Directed by Mike Figgis
Director Mike Figgis (Stormy Monday, Leaving LasVegas, Time Code) joins musicians such as VanMorrison, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Tom Jones, performing and talking about themusic of the early sixties British invasion that reintroduced the blues sound to America.
During the 1960s, the UK was the location for a vibrant socialrevolution. London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle all had theirown music scenes. Musicians from Belfast and Glasgow moved to London to be partof the club scene there.
The post-war traditional jazz and folk revival movements producedthe fertile ground for a new kind of blues music entirely influenced bythe authentic black blues of the USA, and, for the most part, entirely ignored bythe good citizens of the US. It was new in the sense that certain key musicianstook the blues and molded it in an entirely personal way to fit the new awarenessof the UK in the sixties. Importantly, for the most part they continued to payhomage to the originators of the music and to make a huge global audience awareof the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Freddie King, etc.
Mike Figgis' film examines the circumstances of this vibrantperiod. Figgis himself participated, albeit in a minor way, in this period ofhistory, playing in a blues band with Bryan Ferry, a band that was the nucleusfor the first Roxy Music.
A series of musical interviews with the key players of theblues movement is augmented with a live session at the famous Abbey Roadrecording studios. Tom Jones, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, and Lulu allimprovise around some classic blues standards, accompanied by a superbband made up of younger and not-so-younger-musicians. The results are electrifying.
Says Figgis: "I'm interested in why there was suchexcitement about this black music among Europeans. To that end, I'veput together a group of these musicians, augmenting the line-up withsome younger talent as well. Hopefully the resulting recording sessionof some blues standards, and the discussions that follow, shine somelight on why at a particular moment the blues was reinterpreted abroadand 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
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bptaauy66crGeRl7y2wMWio6arX5u2qLPIrGWhrJ2h