Topic: Movies w/ Blues or Blues related content

[Mike Brosnan]

Ha! Never actually read that link.  Who knows...  Maybe it was John Jackson after all! 

[doctorpep]

Good point about Seymour (the character in the film) saying that Blues is a 12-bar musical form. In the early days of Blues, and even with McDowell's recordings in the 1960s, the Blues was certainly not always a 12-bar musical format. I think the Chicago Blues of Muddy really perpetuated the idea that all Blues was done in 12-bars (and Muddy probably has songs that aren't even in that form!). There are other stupid myths about Blues, such as it being the easiest music to play and sing, whereas, in reality, it's actually the hardest music to pull off. There are some quotes on this website from Jerry Ricks, stating something to the effect that it's useless for Jerry and his black and white peers to try to sing like the old black players from the '20s and '30s, and that they should just be themselves. The reason they should stick to this method is that they (or we) simply CAN'T pull of singing like a Son House or Texas Alexander. That's just my opinion, so feel free to criticize. Anyway, we should probably get back to Mr. Moss and his greatness!=)

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Since the last bunch of posts were in a Buddy Moss thread and didn't pertain to Buddy (or John Jackson, as it turned out), I figured I'd move them here since "Ghost World" is a movie with blues-related content.
All best,
Johnm

[Mr.OMuck]

From Pasolini's Gospel According To St. Matthew
The embed code is screwy and is coming in twice ...sorry.

O'Muck, don't use youtube's embed code, the forum will embed automatically, all you need is:

Code: [Select]

http://www.youtube.com/v/uB7DBb3bSvY&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/uB7DBb3bSvY&hl=en&fs=1

[Mr.OMuck]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned the film "Life" with Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence. The tale of two New York small time hustlers sent down to Mississippi to do a bootleg run in the mid thirties.I heard Bo Carter singing Banana in your Fruit Basket, someone who I'm pretty certain was Kokomo Arnold and Parchman Farm, the '39? version (Bukka White) with bass, drums and electric guitar added, doing surprisingly little violence to the original.
I didn't get to watch the whole film, but it seemed pretty typical Hollywood fare with the exception of the music and superior set design and camera work,(notable actually).

[Mr.OMuck]

Not Kokomo Arnold but the redoubtable Casey Bill Weldon. Since they share a Yazoo CD I'll forgive my misattribution.

"Two-Timin' Woman"
Written by Casey Bill Weldon (as William Weldon)
Performed by Casey Bill Weldon
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing


"Banana in Your Fruit Basket"
Written by Bo Carter (as A. Chatmon)
Performed by Bo Carter
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing


"Let Me Roll Your Lemon"
Written by Bo Carter (as A. Chatmon)
Performed by Bo Carter
Courtesy of Shanachie Entertainment Corp.


"Parchman Farm Blues"
Written and Performed by Bukka White
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

[Pan]

I just saw a mystery/film noir/horror Alan Parker film called "Angel Heart". It has Brownie McGhee playing (?) a role of an old blues musician and performing his song, "Rainy, Rainy Day".

The movie is mostly placed in the 1950's Louisiana and New Orleans and the sound track has some other blues also, like "Honeyman Blues", sung by Bessie Smith and "You've got the Right Key but the Wrong Keyhole", composed by Clarence Williams.

While I liked the film, I, for my misfortune, have just been to an exhibition of Haitian VoDou religious folk art here in Berlin. So being a little more educated on the subject, I found the implications that Voodoo might have something to do with Satanism, simply regrettable.

Other than that, it's an OK thriller movie, starring Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro.

Cheers

Pan

[Bunker Hill]

I just saw a mystery/film noir/horror Alan Parker film called "Angel Heart". It has Brownie McGhee playing (?) a role of an old blues musician and performing his song, "Rainy, Rainy Day".

There's a soundtrack LP of the music (Antilles New Directions 791035-1). The other musicians are apparently Sugar Blue, Pinetop Perkins, Deacon John, Richard Payne and Alonzo Stewart. If I knew where I had put my copy of Chris Smith's "That's The Stuff" BM&ST discography I might've been able to add more. Who knows?

[Stefan Wirz]

There's a soundtrack LP of the music (Antilles New Directions 791035-1). The other musicians are apparently Sugar Blue, Pinetop Perkins, Deacon John, Richard Payne and Alonzo Stewart. If I knew where I had put my copy of Chris Smith's "That's The Stuff" BM&ST discography I might've been able to add more. Who knows?

just found this track list at http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/catalog/soundtrackdetail.php?movieid=1071

1.   Harry Angel (Kingdom Mission, Introducing Mr.Cyphre,Fowler's,Harlem Chase,Lanza's) (07:56)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 
2.   Honeyman Blues (01:18)
composed by G.Brooks, performed by Bessie Smith 
3.   Nightmare (Secret Lovers) (02:12)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 
4.   Girl Of My Dreams (Saxophone Version) (00:49)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 
5.   I Got This Thing About Chickens (03:43)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 
6.   The Right Key, But The Wrong Keyhole (03:24)
composed by Clarence Williams & Eddy Green, performed by Lilian Boutte 
7.   Rainy, Rainy Day (01:58)
composed & performed by Brownie McGee 
8.   Looking For Johnny (Cajuns,Epiphany,I Am An Athe?st,Frightened Eyes Never Lie) (07:29)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 
9.   Bloodmare (Dog Tags) (03:09)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 
10.   Johnny Favorite (04:34)
composed by Trevor Jones, performed by Trevor Jones & Courtney Pine 

[Pan]

Bunker Hill is right, McGhee is indeed performing with a band.

The band members are not listed on any of the soundtrack pages I found either.

You can hear the song on this YouTube video, but unfortunately the actual scene or musicians are not shown:



Cheers

Pan

[jmorton]

I caught "The Public Enemy" the other night, a Cagney gangster film from 1931.  The actor Murray Kinnell plays Putty Nose, who is gunned down as he tries to endear himself to Cagney's character with a pathetic rendition of "Hesitation Blues".

[btasoundsradio]

The scene in Baby Doll, on the porch with the guy playing harp doing Baby Please Dont Go is pretty awesome

[btasoundsradio]

Also everyone here should check out the great Indy documentary called "Who Is Bozo Texino" about hobo moniker culture featuring great soundtrack by Tim Kerr, texas punk/blues innovator doing some country blues instrumental with guitar and fiddle. billdaniel.net

[Johnm]

Hi all,
We watched the movie "Ariel" by the Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki last night.  He is the same director who did "The Man Without A Past", and like that movie, "Ariel" has a completely distinctive, flat affect kind of sense of humor.  Kaurismaki must be a Country Blues fan, because at one point in "The Man Without A Past" the hero turns on a jukebox and Lemon's "That Crawling Baby Blues" plays.  In "Ariel", there's a scene where the hero is looking for a job and Casey Bill's "W.P.A. Blues" plays.  It was a nice surprise.
All best,
Johnm

[JohnLeePimp]

I was just watching the Eddie Murphy film Metro... In an effort to appear unracist, in the first scene we see bad guy in his house listening to Duke Ellington and he mentions something about looking for a "rare" Robert Johnson record before proceeding to tumolt the black policeman with a knife
...It was barely even a thing, but it brought a smile to my face

Also can someone with one of them counter things find out many times Cold was the night was featured in film soundtracks?