The Blues - A Musical Journey (2003)
Road Movies, Vulcan Productions, Columbia

Description

THE BLUES grew from field hollers, work songs, and church choirs into a uniquely American art form. Follow the cultural odyssey from Africa to the Mississippi Delta, Memphis, and Chicago, experiencing blues essence in social, spiritual, and musical impressions. Then take a front-row seat to early bluesman Ali Farka Toure, legends B. B. King and Blind Willie Johnson, Ray Charles, and Eric Clapton.

Tags

Blues

Collected reviews and ratings

8.0 Kamera.co.uk | Andy Murray

... the seven DVDs - each complete with extra footage besides the main feature - are a considerable achievement, and overall an irresistible, if pricey, treat.
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8.0 Shades of Blue

If you are remotely interested in the Blues, do yourself a favour and try and get hold of these.
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8.0 Telegraph.co.uk | Philip Horne

Like his splendid personal documentaries on American and Italian cinema, this series is encyclopaedically packed with vivid detail from the 20th century's treasurehouse of recorded sounds and images.
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7.0 Amazon user reviews

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 these 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.
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