Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues - Piano Blues

Starring:Marcia Ball, Chris Barber (II), Chester Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Chris Farlowe, Peter Green (VII), Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Lee Hooker (II), Salif Keita, Don Kern, Nathaniel Lee Jr., Susan McWilliams, Little Milton, Mya
Director: Clint Eastwood, Charles Burnett, Mike Figgis, Marc Levin, Richard Pearce, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders
Studio: Sony
Product Type: DVD

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It may have been underrated when first broadcast on PBS on consecutive nights in the fall of '03, but executive producer Martin Scorsese's homage to the blues is a truly significant, if imperfect, achievement. "Musical journey" is an apt description, as Scorsese and the six other directors responsible for the seven approximately 90-minute films follow the blues--the foundation of jazz, soul, R&B, and rock & roll--from its African roots to its Mississippi Delta origins, up the river to Memphis and Chicago, then to New York, the United Kingdom, and beyond. Because the absence of lengthier vintage clips is the principal drawback of the series, Clint Eastwood's Piano Blues is the best of the lot; a musician himself, Eastwood simply lets the players play, which means we get extensive file footage of the likes of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Nat "King" Cole, as well as new performances by Ray Charles, Dr. John, and others. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews:

Me me and Piano Blues.......2006-12-22

This salad bowl, shisch-kebab and mumbo-jumbo documentary is absolutely amazing: it makes no effort to place Dr. John, Dave Brubeck, Fats Domino, Duke Ellington, or Pinetop Perkins in their respective contexts...

In the end, we get rambling and pointless conversations (sitting alongside Pinetop Perkins, Jay McShann or Ray Charles the interviewer should get something fresh out of them...) and some sensational archive footage; my favorite is the great Jay McShann's interplay with Big Joe Turner, and Otis Spann is also great... Monk also, but that footage I have already seen (actually, Monk is one of the very few artists at least moderately explained in their context).

There is a lot of great and creative music in this film, but performances are cut off precisely when they catch steem, and cross-cutting between various artists is neither artistic nor informative in the musical sense...

It is interesting to remember Wim Wenders' "Buena Vista Social Club" - a documentary equally selfcentred as is Eastwood's "Piano Blues", but at least Wenders was attempting to give structure and meaning to pictures and sounds of the music it depicts. By the way, Wenders' contribution to Scorsese's "Blues" series is far superior to Eastwood's (which I say with sadness - I like Eastwood very much and many of the people he deals with have my warm musical affection, others I would like to now more about...).

Piano Blues Delightful.......2006-11-11

Excellent production. Have watched it several times. Bought this one for my musician brother.

Terrific fun for piano blues lovers.......2005-03-29

If your taste runs towards blues-based piano, watch this video. The "blues" title is (thankfully) used in the loosest, musically correct sense, and features blues, R&B, boogie woogie, jazz (Duke!), rock n' roll, and anything else that rolls up and down the blues scales. The video itself intersperses vintage footage with live performances. Musicians such as Ray (!), Pinetop Perkins, Dr. John, Jay McShann, and Dave Brubeck play next to an obviously awed Clint Eastwood. (It's worth the price of the video to watch the 70+ year old icon look like a 10 year old boy meeting his baseball heroes). There's no music theory mumbo jumbo; the music does the talking. Lots of playing, and occasional anecdotes coaxed out by Clint. About the only minus is the lack of start-to-finish performances. Great fun, definitely recommended.

Piano Man.......2004-07-31

Quite a good Documentary/Interview by Clint Eastwood. A great chance to see Clint in his real element, a frustrated Piano Player who couldnt quit his day job. For someone we are used to seeing so in command onscreen he seems at times nervous and obviously in awe of greats such as Ray Charles and Dr. John. Not a great facts and figures type presentation but fantastic to see more of the personalities dabble around on home and studio pianos telling Clint how they fell into playing and not a movie career.Some classic old footage used as reference only of the old school players and some re visited Prof. Longhair interviews. Not to be missed if you have Scorsese's collection.

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