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The Blues (film Series)
''The Blues'' is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues. The series originally aired on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States. ''Feel Like Going Home'' Director Martin Scorsese pays tribute to the Delta blues, tracing the roots of the music by traveling through the state of Mississippi with the musician Corey Harris and then traveling to West Africa. Willie King, Taj Mahal, Othar Turner and Ali Farka Touré give performances of early Delta blues songs, along with rare archival film of Son House, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. ''The Soul of a Man'' Written and directed by Wim Wenders, the film explores the musical careers of blues musicians Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. ''The Road to Memphis'' Directed by Richard Pearce, this episode focuses on the Beale Street m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Documentary Film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in terms of "a filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception hat remainsa practice without clear boundaries". Early documentary films, originally called "actuality films", lasted one minute or less. Over time, documentaries have evolved to become longer in length, and to include more categories. Some examples are educational, observational and docufiction. Documentaries are very informative, and are often used within schools as a resource to teach various principles. Documentary filmmakers have a responsibility to be truthful to their vision of the world without intentionally misrepresenting a topic. Social-media platforms (such as YouTube) have provided an avenue for the growth of the documentary- film gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Othar Turner
Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 27, 2003) was one of the last well-known fife players in the vanishing American fife and drum blues tradition. His music was also part of the African-American genre known as Hill country blues. Early life and education Othar Turner, nicknamed "Otha", was born in Canton, Madison County, Mississippi in 1907. He moved further north, living his entire life in northern Mississippi hill country as a farmer near Como, Mississippi in Panola County. In 1923, aged 16, he learned to play fifes fashioned out of rivercanes and gradually learned other instruments as well. Musicmaking In the late 1960s and 1970s, scholars from nearby colleges made field recordings of Turner and his friends' music, as examples of local traditions, but did not release these. Turner's Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (which consisted of friends and relatives) primarily played at farm parties. In the early 1970s the band was called "The Gravel Springs Fife & Drum Band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memphis Blues
The Memphis blues is a style of blues music created from the 1910s to the 1930s by musicians in the Memphis area, such as Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine shows and was associated with Beale Street, the main entertainment area in Memphis. W. C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues", published the song "The Memphis Blues" in 1909 and this was the first blues to be written down.. In lyrics, the phrase has been used to describe a depressed mood. History In addition to guitar-based blues, jug bands, such as Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band, were extremely popular practitioners of Memphis blues. The jug band style emphasized the danceable, syncopated rhythms of early jazz and a range of other folk styles. It was played on simple, sometimes homemade, instruments such as harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo The kazoo is an American music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beale Street
Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are major tourist attractions in Memphis. Festivals and outdoor concerts frequently bring large crowds to the street and its surrounding areas. History Beale Street was created in 1841 by entrepreneur and developer Robertson Topp (1807–1876), who named it for a forgotten military hero of the Mexican–American War. (The original name was Beale Avenue.) Its western end primarily housed shops of trade merchants, who traded goods with ships along the Mississippi River, while the eastern part developed as an affluent suburb. In the 1860s, many black traveling musicians began performing on Beale. The first of these to call Beale Street home were the Young Men's Brass Band, who were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ike Turner
Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with his then-wife Tina Turner as the leader of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. A native of Clarksdale, Mississippi, Turner began playing piano and guitar as a child and then formed the Kings of Rhythm as a teenager. His first recording, " Rocket 88" (credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats), is considered a contender for the distinction of first rock and roll song. During the 1950s, Turner also worked as a talent scout and producer for Sun Records and Modern Records. He was instrumental in the early careers of various blues musicians such as B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Bobby "Blue" Bland. In 1954, Turner relocated to East St. Louis where his Kings of Rhythm became one of the most renowned acts in Greater St. Louis. He l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosco Gordon
Rosco N. Gordon III (April 10, 1928 – July 11, 2002), sometimes billed as Roscoe Gordon, was an American blues singer, pianist, and songwriter. He is best known for his hit songs "Booted," (1952), "No More Doggin'" (1952), and " Just a Little Bit" (1960). Gordon was a pioneer of the Memphis blues style. He played piano in a style known as the "Rosco rhythm," with the emphasis on the off-beat. This rhythm was an influence on later musical styles such as Jamaican ska and reggae. Biography Gordon was born in Memphis, Tennessee on April 10, 1928, the youngest of eight children. He learned to play piano from his sister who took lessons. Gordon became associated with Johnny Ace, Bobby Bland and B.B. King, sometimes referred to as the Beale Streeters. In 1946, Gordon moved to Chicago "after getting in trouble in Memphis." He returned to Memphis in 1949, and won first place at an amateur show at the Palace Theatre on Beale Street in 1950. Emcee of the show Rufus Thomas invi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Rush (musician)
Bobby Rush (born Emmett Ellis Jr. in Homer, Louisiana on November 10, 1933) is an American blues musician, composer, and singer. His style incorporates elements of blues, rap, and funk. Rush has won twelve Blues Music Awards and in 2017, at the age of 83, he won his first Grammy Award for the album ''Porcupine Meat''. He is inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, and Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame. Life and career Rush is the son of Emmett and Mattie Ellis. His father was a pastor whose guitar and harmonica playing provided early musical influences. As a young child he began experimenting with music using a sugarcane syrup bucket and a broom-wire diddley bow. Around 1947, he and the family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where his father took on the pastorate of a church and was a farmer. It was here that Rush would become friends with Elmore James, the slide player Boyd Gilmore (James's cousin), and the piano player Johnny "Big Moose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Pearce (film Director)
Richard Pearce (born January 25, 1943) is an American film director, television director and cinematographer. In addition to feature films, he has directed made-for-TV movies and TV series. Early life and education Born in 1943 in San Diego, California, Richard Pearce went east to high school, attending St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He attended Yale University, where he earned a B.A., English in 1965 where he met D.A. Pennebaker; afterwards he moved to New York City working with Pennebaker and Richard Leacock on several documentaries. Accolades In 1980 he won the Golden Bear award at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival for his film '' Heartland''. Filmography As director * 1977: '' The Gardener's Son'' (TV) * 1978: ''Siege'' (TV) * 1979: ''No Other Love'' (TV) * 1979: '' Heartland'' * 1981: ''Threshold'' * 1983: ''Sessions'' (TV) * 1984: ''Country'' * 1985: '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (TV series) * 1986: '' No Mercy'' * 1989: '' Dead Man Out'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lisa Rinzler
Lisa Rinzler is an American cinematographer who works on both feature films and documentaries. She has worked with Wim Wenders, Martin Scorsese, the Hughes Brothers and Tamra Davis. Early life and education Lisa Rinzler was born on 30 November 1955 in New Jersey, USA. Rinzler dropped out of high school to attend the Pratt Institute in New York. Initially studying painting, she then switched to film-making and moved to New York University's bigger film department. Career As a graduate, Rinzler shot two short films with Robert Mapplethorpe and one short film with Wim Wenders. She worked as an assistant cinematographer for Nancy Schreiber and Fred Murphy. She moved into photographing documentaries, including ''The Dead'' with John Huston, and music videos. Her work with Tamra Davis on music videos led to her working as Director of Photography on Davis's feature film Guncrazy. She and Davis were both then fired from the film ''Bad Girls'' for their feminist perspective. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American gospel blues singer, guitarist and evangelist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930—thirty songs in total—display a combination of powerful "chest voice" singing, slide guitar skills, and originality that has influenced generations of musicians. Even though Johnson's records sold well, as a street performer and preacher, he had little wealth in his lifetime. His life was poorly documented, but over time, music historians such as Samuel Charters have uncovered more about Johnson and his five recording sessions. A revival of interest in Johnson's music began in the 1960s, following his inclusion on Harry Smith's ''Anthology of American Folk Music'', and by the efforts of the blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis. Along with Davis, he has since been considered the dominant player of " holy blues" music, which conveyed religious themes in a blues idiom and often with the genre's styl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "This emotional, lyrical performer was a talented blues guitarist and arranger with an impressive body of work." His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity. After a long absence from the public eye, James was rediscovered in 1964 by blues enthusiasts including John Fahey, helping further the blues and folk music revival of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at folk and blues festivals, gave concerts around the country, and recorded several albums for various record labels. His songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the ''John Wick'' film series (2017–present). For his portrayal of Ike Turner in ''What's Love Got to Do With It'' (1993), Fishburne was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in ''Two Trains Running'' (1992), and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in ''TriBeCa'' (1993). Fishburne became the first African American to portray O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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