Jammin' the Blues

Starring:Lester Young
Studio: Efor Films
Product Type: DVD

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - Jammin' With the Blues Greats

Average customer rating:

Blues Jamming at it best
Evening with the Greats
Watch the Blues Greats jam with the Bluesbreakers
Get This For The Best Albert King Sound Available
Historical event at a nice price

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - Jammin' With the Blues Greats
Starring: John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
Manufacturer: Hybrid Recordings
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Antone's Home of the Blues

ASIN: B0006UYOII
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Description

It was a night when the legends played, when English Blues met Chicago & Memphis Blues, and something magical happened.

One hot night in June 1982 at New Jersey's Capitol Theater, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, featuring Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones) on lead guitar, John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) on bass, and Colin Allen (of Rod Stewart's band) on drums, paid homage to and were joined by five blues immortals: Albert King, Etta James, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and the 83-year-old Sippie Wallace. Each of the blues greats were backed by the Bluesbreakers, resulting in some amazing musical moments. Awesome is the only word to describe the guitar jams among Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Mick Taylor.

Now audiences can enjoy every moment of greatness from that special night when the Bluesbreakers were joined by the blues makers. The night the legends came out to play.

Features:
~John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers: An Eye For An Eye, My Time After Awhile, The Dark Side Of Midnight, Room To Move
~Etta James: Baby, What You Want Me To Do
~Buddy Guy and Junior Wells: Messin' With The Kid, Don't Start Me Talkin'
~Sippie Wallace: Shorty George
~Albert King: Why Are You So Mean To Me?, Born Under A Bad Sign, Call It Stormy Monday
~Everyone: C.C. Rider Jam

Customer Reviews:

Blues Jamming at it best.......2007-05-13

This is a great DVD for blues lovers. The guitar solos played by Mick Taylor alone are worth the price of the DVD. I had never heard of Sippy Wallace but at 80 plus years old she sure does a fantastic job singing the blues. Mayall and the blues breakers bought the house down.

Evening with the Greats.......2007-01-19

A terrific opportunity to see numerous blues greats organized by an energetic and cheerful John Mayall. Super playing and teamwork, a fantastic buy at this price; real piece of history.

Watch the Blues Greats jam with the Bluesbreakers.......2006-03-01

If you love Mick Taylor, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, & Albert King you will enjoy this show. I hope all blues-guitar fans will check this one out. If the song choices were better I would have given it five stars.

Get This For The Best Albert King Sound Available.......2005-04-16

This DVD is now available again after years of being out-of-print. Originally it was VHS tape that was available in the Mid-Eighties. That version did not contain the Jam at the end or Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign". During the 90s it reappeared as a full-lenght VHS tape with all tracks present, however, if you live in Australia as I do, it was in NTSC and not available in PAL (I paid $50 in 1997 to get it changed over!Before the technology revolution in TVs). I was able to get the first DVD copy of this work from the UK in 2001 and it is now deleted. This copy is a treasure and what a price!!!!! You should buy two just in case one gets worn out playing Albert King's segment!

OK, the previous reviews are great and I agree with most of what they say. John Mayall was and is a great promoter of the Blues. This concert was in a way a Jam Session (as the name implies) and a chance to give the Blues a kick start in the days just prior to the emergence of the dynamic SRV. It was 1982 and most Blues acts were stagnant-most people were listening to the 1980s New British Pop-Soul Invasion, Billy Joel and so on, enough said.

This set has its ups and downs but the HIGHLIGHT is Albert King. As I have said in my many reviews of his work, material on him is very scarce. Even now, this is much better than the DVD released last year "Live In Sweden"- the sound is better, his guitar has no 1970s phaser on it, the guitar is mixed up front, his singing is at its best and he's not grumpy!!! The other DVD of Albert is "Godfather of the Blues". He has a good sound, but he's 69 years old and the band is very mediocre (Except "Dave Jefferson" on drums). The very rare "Maintenance Shop Blues" tape (can you still get it at all??) he has a good band with horns, it's in this period around the middle 1980s, but his guitar is super phaser driven and not out front.
If they ever release "A Blues Session" (well they just re-released "A Rockabilly Session" with Carl Perkins in the same series!!!) Albert has his second best video exposure, with SRV and Paul Butterfield doing "The Sky Is Crying").

Now to be able to get this DVD with Albert in top form and bassist Frank Dunbar, who played with Albert through the mid-1980s until he got a newer band with the fabluous Jimmy King on second guitar, for only ten bucks is the all time Albert King bargain available- I now own two of the tapes and four of the DVDs!!

About the players. The Bluesbreakers with Mick Taylor and John McVie are great. Taylor's big Marshall sound and great slide playing prevail. I think the best tunes are Buddy Guy's "My Time After A While" and "The Dark Side of Midnight" with Taylor's great playing with a Wah-wah and a Les Paul. Sippie Wallace is super for 83 (she died the year after this concert) you may want to see a younger Sippie caught in the American Folk Blues Festival (Vol. 1) worth seeing! Buddy and Junior Wells are their usual selves. Although Buddy is really not up to scratch with the old Guild he played between Stratocasters. His sound is pretty thin and does not suit his fast playing. This mix is also not the best. Etta James is Etta James, a great Blues singer, but she should have done different material-she did Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (A curious song that actually never refers to the title-Reed was drunk at the time (as usual) and couldn't name the tune he had written with his wife and Eddie Taylor). Etta performed this on about every TV performance she did in the 1980s.(eg-B.B.King, Joe Walsh's special, etc.)

Overall this show belongs to the late great Albert King. Albert never got the credit or recognition he deserved in his lifetime, except from guitar players and die hard blues lovers. Perhaps the re-release of this material will spark some well overdue interest in Mr King. Most guitar players who play blues have to include some of B.B. King's style in their lick dictionary (Guy, Little Milton, Freddie King, Clapton, etc.). However, Albert King never did, once!!! He is the most original blues guitar stylist. Hear him on this DVD. He is the best, the King of soulful bending!

Historical event at a nice price.......2005-04-13

This is a great low priced Dvd containing John Mayall and some blues history from 1982. The 80's were some of the hardest times for artists that saw their prime at the begining of the 70's. On this Dvd John Mayall performs a concert with the likes of Etta James, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Sippie Wallace, and Albert King. It's cool to see Mayall bumpin elbows with John McVie, and Mick Taylor again. Although Mick seems to have a very Stones esq attitude towards the special guests, and can't seem to play a song without smoking a cigarette. But otherwise ego's seemed to be checked at the door. I'm pretty sure Mayall is content with playing along with his idols. He always seems to thank his idols one way or another during live shows. Also his attidude has changed a bit since the 1972 album "Jazz Blues Fusion." In between songs the audience yells out requests for "Room to Move" and John replies "Did you come to see a concert or hear a record?" But at the end of the set on the DVD John says "What would a concert be without a little "Room to Move."" So it is good to see he has embraced playing some nostalgia rather than banging out new tunes. I saw John perform at a club in Buffalo NY about a year ago. I was floored when I got to meet him and he signed his 70th birthday DVD for me and I thanked him for introducing me to the blues. John is a very nice guy and played an excellent set. But I'm getting off track. This DVD contains some great performances by blues greats who I'm sure you'd be hard pressed (they are out there but it'll take some research) to find on DVD anywhere else other than here. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells are an awesome duo on stage. You can see the obvious BB King influences in Buddy's playing. Junior can honk a serious harp too. The Albert King set is awesome. The guy plays guitar left handed eventhough it is strung right handed, its pretty cool to see. Etta James and Sippie Wallace both do very good singing although I've never been a fan of women singing the blues. The C.C. Rider Jam is awesome as well with everyone having a chance to shine. For the price its hard to beat this DVD. Seeing blues greats that usually don't get as much credit as they should on stage is really cool. If you are a John Mayall fan or just a fan of the blues you should get this. But if you are a blues fan you probably already have it.

Average customer rating:

Works For Me
no good, no stars

Jammin' the Blues
Starring: Lester Young
Manufacturer: Efor Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Jazz Masters: Vintage Collection
Sound of Jazz
Harlem Renaissance / Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole
A Great Day in Harlem
The Last of the Blue Devils - The Kansas City Jazz Story

ASIN: B0002T1EEK
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Customer Reviews:

Works For Me.......2005-11-02

This DVD worked on my old player and on my new XP Media Edition system. It did take some button juggling at first on the player.
The DVD includes the original film, some 10 minutes long, in a very good quality presentation. To provide more value, the disk also includes seven 1940's Count Basie tracks, in varying quality, but of considerable interest. Although the packaging highlights Lester Young, who is the principal player in the original movie, he does not appear in the seven Basie tracks.
If this is the only way to get the film, it's worth it, and the Basie is an extra plus.

no good, no stars.......2005-07-06

The dvd arrived blank. Also, it's false advertising: the title "Jammin' the Blues" is the title of a famous jazz film, and that's what I thought I was purchasing. Rating = zero. I wasn't able to view and hear it since it was blank. I didn't receive a refund.

dissatisfied

Average customer rating:

Erratic performances, but cherishable nevertheless!
Mick Taylor shows all how to play virtuoso blues guitar
Uninspired, pedestrian and anemic
Well, it's a little better than that.
The Truth Hurts!

Jammin' with the Blues Greats
Starring: Various Artists
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: 6305186456
Release Date: 1998-12-01

Amazon.com

This is an absolute must for any fan of the blues, be it classic American blues or the more raucous English style that took off in the '60s. In 1982 John Mayall reunited the top members from several versions of his outfit, The Bluesbreakers, and hit the road. Bassist John McVie (later of Fleetwood Mac) represented the early '60s line-up, while Collin Allen and the great Mick Taylor (of Rolling Stones fame) came from the late '60s reincarnation. This DVD captures a show at the Capitol Theater in New Jersey, where Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, for one night, played with the heroes who inspired them. In a style much like The Last Waltz, the band plays one of their numbers (among them "The Dark Side of Midnight," "Room to Move," and "My Time After Awhile") and then are joined by blues legends. Fiery guitarist Albert King rips through "Why Are You So Mean to Me?" and his classic "Born Under a Bad Sign," before melting the audience with "They Call It Stormy Monday." The impeccably dressed duo of Junior Wells and Buddy Guy offer up "Messin' with the Kid," and "Don't Start Me Talkin'." Perhaps the high points, however, belong to the ladies. A saucy Etta James grinds her way through "Baby, What You Want Me to Do," while 80-year-old legend Sippie Wallace demonstrates that she's not too old to down a beer and blast out the blues with "Shorty George." Everyone takes the stage for a massive "C.C. Rider" jam at the conclusion, topping off an excellent DVD that will stun any blues lover. --Dave McCoy

Description

It was a night when the legends played; when English Blues met Chicago and Memphis Blues, and something magical happened. One hot night in June, 1982 at New Jersey's Capitol Theater, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers paid homage to and were joined by five blues immortals: Albert King, Etta James, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and 83-year-old Sippie Wallace. Awesome is the only word to describe the amazing musical moments on the night the legends came out to play. Songs: An Eye for an Eye, My Time After Awhile, The Dark Side of Midnight, Room to Move (John Mayall's Bluesbreakers), Baby What You Want Me to Do (Etta James), Messin' with the Kid, Don't Start Me Talkin' (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells), Shorty George (Sippie Wallace), Why Are You So Mean to Me?, Born Under a Bad Sign, Call It Stormy Monday (Albert King), C.C. Rider Jam (Company).

Customer Reviews:

Erratic performances, but cherishable nevertheless!.......2005-01-16

Isn't it funny how we blues musicians sometimes seem to be practically the only people who like blues to listen to? Anyway, this is one of the first DVDs I ever bought, and I was overjoyed to come across it in the store, after struggling with a second-generation crappy VHS of it for over 10 years!

I agree that some parts are sloppy (apparently there was an abundance of alcohol available backstage), but hey, it's a jam! I know that legends like these are normally rehearsed pros, especially when their performance is going to be recorded, but it just gives the impression that these guys are having fun, whatever happens.

The sloppiness of the legends' performances are negated by the outstanding guitar work of Mick Taylor--that is the only reason I bought this DVD. He shines on every track, especially on "My Time After Awhile." Just his solo intro to that song will send shivers up your spine!

Mick Taylor shows all how to play virtuoso blues guitar .......2004-08-22

Sorry folks, perhaps the place was a shade too warm or maybe these blues greats had one too many drinks before the show ... for me, the highlight was Mick Taylor's brilliant guitar playing even after showing much respect (by not upstaging) for the musicians he listened to as he was learning to play the blues.

The audio quality is certainly not the best and it does get a little rough around the edges during the jams ..... hey, but this is the blues, not opera

Uninspired, pedestrian and anemic.......2001-03-13

As a musician, I can honestly state that the I'd place the caliber of the performance of John Mayall's back-up musicians right up there with what you can find any weeknight at your nearest open mic. While the other name artists on this DVD do their level-best to elevate the lukewarm atmosphere of this concert, it just isn't enough.

The selection of only the most well-known standards, shoved into uninspired and (obviously) un-arranged/unrehearsed performances results in a sloppy, stumbling and sophomoric product.

Well, it's a little better than that........2000-12-04

First off, let me say I am also a blues musician, so I do have some idea of what I'm talking about. I would agree with the previous reviewer that the Bluesbreakers are definitely not a highlight of this film. John Mayall does seem very pompous though he never does anything special. But, I think the rhythm section was at least adequate and Mick Taylor puts in some fine playing. Albert King is definitely the highlight here, he's in great form. The giant of a man sings with a lot of soul and plays with a lot of passion. Etta seems a bit off on Baby What You Want Me To Do. Junior Wells slubs a few lines but otherwise he's in great form (his harp is excellent). Buddy Guy seems a bit off too, his guitar isn't quite as stinging as usual. Sippie Wallace is great, she really has conviction and puts it across exceptionally at her age. I would advise you to buy this, I've gotten a lot of pleasure out of it.

The Truth Hurts!.......2000-10-31

First, let me state that I am a blues musician, so I might be a little harsh on my review. That said, I bought this video because of Etta, Albert, Junior, and Buddy. I can definitely say that without these illustrious performers, this video would be zero stars. The Bluesbreakers lived up to their name, sounding like a band on its first night out. I would have been embarrassed to be onstage with them, even though they are great musicians in their own right. The worst part was watching John Mayall squirm around like he was setting the place on fire, when in actuality, he was playing some modest licks at best. In whole, the band couldn't start or stop together, and their job of backing up some of the Blues legends was terrible. Buy it used, if at all!

Average customer rating:

Jammin' the Blues
Starring: Count Basie , and Lester Young
Manufacturer: Stars of Jazz
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Average customer rating:

Jammin' with the Blues Greats
Starring: John McVie , Junior Wells , Colin Allen , John Mayall , and Albert King
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005RHBE

Average customer rating:

Jammin' the Blues [Region 2]
Starring: Lester Young , George 'Red' Callender , Harry Edison , Marlowe Morris , and Sidney Catlett
Director: Gjon Mili
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VY82

DVD:

DVD