The American Folk Blues Festival Volume 1 - 1962-1966 [DVD]

This DVD includes 18 excellent black-and-white recordings, most of them taped in a small studio (although a few are "real" concert footage). Otis Rush is here, doing his first and biggest hit, "I Can't Quit You Baby", in front of a solely white (and quite formally dressed) audience. John Lee Hooker does a gritty solo "Hobo Blues" solely for the benefit of the camera. Pianist Eddie Boyd plays his classic "Five Long Years" (a great performance, marred only by his own awful solo). "Mississippi" Fred McDowell (from Tennessee) plays a great acoustic "Going Down To The River". And Lonnie Johnson, then in his mid-60s, plays a soulful "Another Night To Cry", introduced by the towering Aleck "Rice" Miller, whose performance of "Nine Below Zero" is another highlight.

Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working" is a bit more subdued than you might have expected, and he doesn't play his guitar, but it's great nevertheless, and Rice Miller on harmonica is an added bonus. And speaking of harpists...Junior Wells performs a slow "Hoodoo Man Blues", and Big Walter Horton is here, too, doing a tremendous swinging instrumental. And Sippie Wallace's spirited and supremely confident performance of "Women Be Wise" is a wonderful thowback to the 20s when brassy female blues belters were the order of the day.

The glossy 22-page booklet is well illustrated, well written, and very informative, and the DVD is worth its weight in gold. Keep 'em coming!


blues gold   November 24, 2003
matthew todd
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

iam a blues fan, there are not many blues archive film or dvd for us fans ,i bought this on spec ,there are 18 tracks of pure gold,from t bone walker to the great muddy waters band ,the sound is mono and crystal clear this is part of a two disc set volume two is on sale now, do yourself a favour, boogie on line and order a copy now i promise it will not dissapoint, the genius of these old guys is breathtaking ,hot,cool,and soooo classy


We are so very lucky...   January 1, 2004
MR ANDREW E DOYLE
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

... to have these recordings. Criticsm can only come from someone too tired and jaded to appreciate their uniqueness. For all other grateful blues fans, these are examples of what greatness there is in raw talent, simplicity and blues innovation. These performers were amongst the first and best to record.

I can only hope that the UK TV recordings of the tour receive the same superb treatment and release, very, very soon.


This really IS essential blues   June 28, 2009
Nikica Gilic (Zagreb, Croatia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

If I were cranky, grumpy, whining nit-picking person, I would say it's a pity these SENSATIONAL recordings are not presented chronologically - you get songs from 1962 to 1969 (excellent bonus tracks of Earl Hooker) - but who cares?
Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Spann, Big Joe Williams, T-Bone Walker and the rest of the crew is captured at (or darn near) their creative peak and the footage is beautiful (although I tend to agree with the comments that stress the inadequacy of fake-rural setting for an artist such as T-Bone Walker)...
My favorite performances of this DVD (after only watching it twice) are given by Sonny Boy Williamson ("Nine Below Zero") and Sippie Wallace ("Women be Wise"), but there's no weak track here.

Additional joy is when the blues giants introduce each other (T-Bone introduces Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, McGhee introduces Memphis Slim...) and I should mention that they accompany each others features (T-Bone Walker and Willie Dixon play for Memphis Slim, Otis Spann and Dixon play for Lonnie Johnson, Buddy Guy plays for Eddie Boyd, Boyd and Guy play for Walter "Shakey" Horton...)...

p.s.
The design of the DVD and the liner notes are excellent, but it seems to me that the same booklet is used for volumes 1 & 2 (and probably for vol. 3, but I haven't bought that one. Yet.)