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The Blues Press release from from the ROADMOVIES website.
The impressive list of directors committed to the project includes Scorsese himself, Wim Wenders (“Wings of Desire" and the Oscar nominated “Buena Vista Social Club"), Marc Levin (his first feature “Slam" won the Sundance Festival and the Cannes Camera d’Or), Charles Burnett (“To Sleep With Anger", “The Annihilation of Fish"), Richard Pearce (“Leap of Faith, “The Long Walk Home") and Mike Figgis (“Leaving Las Vegas, “Timecode"). The series executive producers are Martin Scorsese, Road Movies’ Ulrich Felsberg and CBSP’s president Jody Patton. The series producer is Alex Gibney. Margaret Bodde of Cappa Productions is the Producer. International sales for THE BLUES are handled by Road Sales Mediadistribution (TBC). Under the guiding vision of Martin Scorsese, each director will explore the music through his own personal style and perspective. The series is motivated by a central theme: how the blues evolved from parochial folk tunes to a universal language. As Willie Dixon, the great ambassador of Chicago blues once said, "The blues are the roots; everything else is the fruits." The series begins with the journey from Africa to the Mississippi Delta – where the music grew from field hollers, work songs and church choirs – follows it up the Mississippi to the juke joints, house parties and recording studios of Memphis and Chicago, and ends with the emotional embrace of this African-American music by musicians all over the world. In celebrating the transcendent, timeless quality of the music, the series offers the history of the blues as the well from which so much of contemporary music is drawn. Thus, many of the episodes include performances from today’s popular musicians. THE BLUES is the culmination of a great ambition for Scorsese – to honour the music of which he is so fond, to preserve its legacy and to work closely with skilled feature film directors, united in their desire to celebrate the music. Martin Scorsese is directing the first film, “From Mali to Mississippi". Winding its way from the banks of the Niger River in Mali to the fields and juke joints of the Mississippi Delta, Scorsese’s film traces the misty, half-mythical origins of the blues in a lyrical combination of original performances (including Ali Farka Touré, Salif Keita, Habib Koité, Taj Mahal, Corey Harris, Othar Turner) and rare archival footage. Charles Burnett’s “Warming by the Devil’s Fire" boldly mixes fictional story-telling with documentary footage in a tale about a young boy’s encounter with his family in Burnett’s hometown of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1955. It explores the musical tension between the hellhounds of the blues and heavenly gospel tunes. Wim Wenders’ “Devil Got My Woman" looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite blues artists: Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson, and J.B. Lenoir. Part history, part personal pilgrimage, the film tells the story of these lives in music through fictional reenactments, rare archival footage, first-person documentary sequences and covers of their songs by contemporary musicians. In Richard Pearce’s “Moanin’ at Midnight" Memphis is a mythical crossroads town that gave birth not only to Elvis Presley, but to a legendary group of rhythm and blues musicians, including Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Redding and the incomparable BB King. By using BB’s extraordinary musical odyssey as the spine of the film, Memphis is honored as the city that gave birth to a faster, slicker type of urban blues. The film includes original performances by some of Memphis’ living legends and never-before-seen footage of Otis Redding and Howlin’ Wolf. Call them the Blues Brothers 2002 - in Marc Levin’s lively verité-driven film, “Godfathers and Sons", hip-hop legend Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess (son of Leonard Chess and heir to the Chess Records legacy) return to Chicago to explore the heyday of Chicago Blues and unite to produce an album that attempts to bring veteran blues players together with contemporary hip hop musicians SUCH AS Common and The Roots. Along with unseen archival footage of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, are original performances by Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Ike Turner and Sam Lay. “The British Invasion" is Mike Figgis’ personal
exploration of the early 60s, when the likes of Eric Clapton and
Mick Jagger heard the sounds of the blues coming across the Atlantic
and brought it back to America where it had been momentarily forgotten.
Through conversations and impromptu concerts with people as varied
as Jagger, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Tom Jones, as well as contemporary
musicians, the film will recall that pivotal moment when kids from
Liverpool and Manchester made the blues their own and set the stage
for the universal embrace of the music.
About Clear Blue Sky Productions
Clear Blue Sky Productions (CBSP) is the independent film production
company behind such critically acclaimed projects as Men With Guns
(a Sony Pictures Classics release) by John Sayles, and Julie Taymor’s
Titus (a Fox Searchlight release starring Jessica Lange and Anthony
Hopkins). Founded by investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen in
1997, CBSP’s focus is to originate, develop and finance creative
and artistically-driven motion pictures and documentaries that are
original, compelling and unique. Feature projects include the forthcoming
The Safety of Objects by Rose Troche (starring Glenn Close and Dermot
Mulroney) and Coastlines by Victor Nunez; and, last year’s
The Luzhin Defence by Marleen Gorris (starring Emily Watson and
John Turturro). Documentaries include Michael Apted’s recent
films Inspirations – about creativity in the arts, and the
award-winning Me & Isaac Newton – about creativity in the
sciences. Evolution, a seven-part series, co-produced with WGBH
Boston, premiered on PBS in September 2001. CBSP also worked with
WGBH on Cracking the Code of Life, a WGBH/NOVA Science Unit special
on the human genome project that aired in April 2001.
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