Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the new release, Last of the Mississippi Juke Joints, a film by Robert Mugge and it's really interesting. This film chronicled the days of Jimmy King's legendary Subway Lounge in Jackson Mississippi and the early days of Morgan Freeman's and Bill Luckett's Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale Mississippi, a heartfelt attempt at recapturing the spirit of fading juke joint traditions. This film documents interviews with Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett and Dick Waterman, famed music photographer. The first live set is with Alvin Youngblood Hart with Sam Carr and Anthony Sherrod. Hart's performance is super as always with a great voice and pure slide techniques. Showing the real flavor of a juke joint, Luckett and Freeman point out beer signs, pool tables, antiques signs, flea market tables, mis matched table cloths and catfish sandwiches, all the things that make a juke joint feel authentic. This is no city blues club. This is t...

Last Of The Mississippi Jukes Special Edition DVD coming  on 10/21 Robert Mugge's stunning exploration of fading juke joint traditions at the heart of  Mississippi blues culture, with Morgan Freeman "American roots music at its most soulful and authentic. Excellent." -  Boston Phoenix "This wonderful documentary [is] a definite good buy for blues fans." -  Jazz & Blues Report "One of the most important Mississippi music films ever made." -  Planet Weekly (Jackson, MS)  LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES is Robert Mugge's exploration of Mississippi juke joints, the rustic, often dilapidated music venues where, early in the last century, itinerant blues musicians played for plantation workers and others, creating a powerful new music which soon migrated to Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit, and elsewhere. Of course, even as thi...

IT’S ALL JAMS ON DECK FOR BLUES FANS WITH FREE COPIES AVAILABLE OF ACCLAIMED FILMMAKER ROBERT MUGGE’S NEW DVD SHOT ONBOARD THE LEGENDARY RHYTHM & BLUES CRUISE ATLANTA , GA - All Jams on Deck , the new 96-minute documentary by famed music filmmaker Robert Mugge ( http://www.robertmugge.com ) is now available on DVD for the enjoyment of blues fans everywhere. Produced by Mugge and his partner Diana Zelman, executive produced by CEO Roger Naber of Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, LLC ( http://bluescruise.com/ ), and shot/recorded entirely on Naber's October 2010 Blues Cruise to the Mexican Riviera, this Mug-Shot Production is the first film ever to focus on the art form of blues jamming. It also happens to be nominated for Best DVD in the Blues Foundation's 2012 Blues Music Awards competition, with the winner to be announced at the 33rd Blues Music Awards ceremony in Memphis on May 10th. All Jams on Deck was premiered on the October 2010 and Jan...

All Jams On Deck Home » All Jams On Deck All Jams On Deck A film by Robert Mugge For many, the highlights of every Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise are the scheduled “pro jams” presented late each night on the aft Pool Deck. On the October 2010 Blues Cruise from San Diego to the Mexican Riviera, music filmmaker Robert Mugge and his crew documented those late-night jams, as well as others taking place throughout the weeklong cruise. The result is a 96-minute music documentary titled ALL JAMS ON DECK which captures exciting and unpredictable performances by such major blues artists as Tommy Castro, Elvin Bishop, Marcia Ball, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Kim Wilson, Lee Oskar, Commander Cody, Coco Montoya, Lowrider Band, Larry McCray, Rick Estrin, Jimmy Thackery, Sista Monica Parker, John Nemeth, Steve Berlin, Vasti Jackson, Leon Blue, Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, Eden Brent, Mike Schermer, Kelley Hunt, an...

I have had the pleasure to watch Robert Mugge 's All Jams On Deck , a documentation of late night jams as they take place on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise . The scene opens with an interview of guitarist and band leader Tommy Castro and one of my absolute favorite artists, Elvin Bishop (the beginning of a dialog that continues throughout the film in clips). The film then cuts to a live jam with Castro and a backing band with guests including such luminaries as Commander Cody (Keys), Keith Crossan (sax), Randy Oxford (trombone), Tom Poole (trumpet), Mike Schermer (deluxe Tele). The first thing that strikes me is how incredibly clear the sound track is and how great of tone Tommy Castro is laying down. This film is incredibly clear considering that it is being shot in pitch black in the middle of the ocean! Tommy is playing a two pickup reverse Firebird and his tones are really creamy through what appears to be Blackface Super (one of my personal favorites). This firs...

I just received the new release by Scissormen and have listened to it a number of times. In fact, I listened to it a few times yesterday, watched the DVD which comes with the recording last night, and then listened to it again a few times today. I don't know if the cd accompanies the DVD or vice verse but I'll start with the DVD. The footage on the DVD is actually a 90 minute feature directed by legendary Robert Mugge [Gospel According to Al Green, Saxaphone Colossus (starring Sonny Rollins), Deep Blues and New Orleans Musicians in Exile]. I loved Deep Blues and this movie is every bit as captivating but for different reasons. It captures singer, songwriter, guitar player Ted Drozdowski along with drummer R.L. Hulsman reconnecting with the early primitive blues and the life that still exists with it. Drozdowski went to North Mississippi after seeing Mugge's Deep Blues and visited RL Burnside, Jesse Mae Hemphill and Junior Kimbrough. These interactions had a profound affect ...

SCISSORMEN TO DEBUT NEW CD/DVD DISC SET, BIG SHOES: WALKING AND TALKING THE BLUES , MARCH 20 ON VIZZTONE RECORDS 90-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY DVD PRODUCED BY FAMED MUSIC FILMMAKER ROBERT MUGGE AND ACCOMPANYING LIVE CD PRODUCED BY SLIDE GUITAR MASTER TED DROZDOWSKI NASHVILLE, TN – Big Shoes: Walking and Talking the Blues , the new 90-minute documentary by famed music filmmaker Robert Mugge ( http://www.robertmugge.com ), and an accompanying live CD produced by slide guitar master Ted Drozdowski, will be released as a special 2-disc CD/DVD set March 20 on VizzTone Records. The film and the CD both spotlight Drozdowski's Nashville-based band Scissormen ( http://scissormen.com ), and as a prelude to this joint release, the band will perform a special showcase on February 2 at B.B. King's in Memphis during the International Blues Challenge competition. Big Shoes was produced during Scissormen's tour of the Midwest in February 2010 and is part road movie, part co...