With all the talk lately about the blues, Scorcese's thing,
aniversaries, etc., I thought I'd spread the word about an amazing DVD
release I stumbled upon. It's called The American Folk Blues Festival
1962-1966, volumes I & II.

Two Germans, Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau brought the best of the
American Blues musicians over to Europe for an annual festival. During
these tours, they were brought into a German TV studio to tape some
performances. These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim, Lighnin' Hopkins, Willie Dixon,
Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Hubert Sumlin,
etc, etc all in their prime.

The performances are stunning. The video and audio quality is amazing.
Wonderful sets, lighting, camera angles and the audio is top notch.
Eddie Kramer did the transfer/restoration, but the micing technique by
the German engineers is spot-on perfect. They obviously understood this
music and how it should sound. Great minimal micing technique.

Buy these DVD's. You will not be dissapointed. They're available at
Amazon.
--
--
John Noll
Retromedia Sound Studios
Red Bank, NJ 07701

Phone: 732-842-3853 Fax: 732-842-5631

http://www.retromedia.net

From: John Noll

These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim,
(snip)

Thanks for this.

Back in '74 I played bass for Sunnyland and Sam Lay. I got part of this story
back then, part later: My understanding is that Sunnyland (Albert Luandrew) and
Big Bill Broonzy "ran" the South Side scene post- WWII. They put together bands
to play in the many small clubs on the South Side (Sunnyland showed me the
highways that replaced the neighborhood one day). Slim's basement was one
rehearsal spot, thus one of the "birthplaces" of the Chicago sound.

This has also been ignored in another biography I heard on PBS, but Sunnyland
brought Muddy Waters to Chess (or "was instrumental in making the connection").
So he was an important figure in the Chicago Blues scene, besides being a
pretty impressive singer and piano player (IMHO a great walking left hand,
never a mistake until he was old and injured) in his own right.

I didn't get to watch all the Scorcese shows but all I saw of Sunnyland was a
very quick incidental look at the side of his face. Hope he got more than that,
he seems to have deserved it.

Certainly open to correction on any of this.

FWIW I'm on Earwig 4942, "She Got a Thing Goin' On", other cuts with Slim and
Bonnie Lee. The tapes were lost, the sound quality ain't great, but "She Got a
Thing Goin' On" was #20 (thank you Rodney Jones) on the WVON survey during the
summer of '74.

In loyalty... Thanks, Slim.
--Tom Paterson

From: John Noll

These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim,
(snip)

Thanks for this.

Back in '74 I played bass for Sunnyland and Sam Lay. I got part of this story
back then, part later: My understanding is that Sunnyland (Albert Luandrew) and
Big Bill Broonzy "ran" the South Side scene post- WWII. They put together bands
to play in the many small clubs on the South Side (Sunnyland showed me the
highways that replaced the neighborhood one day). Slim's basement was one
rehearsal spot, thus one of the "birthplaces" of the Chicago sound.

This has also been ignored in another biography I heard on PBS, but Sunnyland
brought Muddy Waters to Chess (or "was instrumental in making the connection").
So he was an important figure in the Chicago Blues scene, besides being a
pretty impressive singer and piano player (IMHO a great walking left hand,
never a mistake until he was old and injured) in his own right.

I didn't get to watch all the Scorcese shows but all I saw of Sunnyland was a
very quick incidental look at the side of his face. Hope he got more than that,
he seems to have deserved it.

Certainly open to correction on any of this.

FWIW I'm on Earwig 4942, "She Got a Thing Goin' On", other cuts with Slim and
Bonnie Lee. The tapes were lost, the sound quality ain't great, but "She Got a
Thing Goin' On" was #20 (thank you Rodney Jones) on the WVON survey during the
summer of '74.

In loyalty... Thanks, Slim.
--Tom Paterson

Tom Paterson wrote:
From: John Noll


These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim,

(snip)

Thanks for this.

Back in '74 I played bass for Sunnyland and Sam Lay. (snip)


Sunnyland Slim is very prominantly featured in this series. He comes
across as a very intelligent and dignified man, not to mention a great
musician.
--
--
John Noll
Retromedia Sound Studios
Red Bank, NJ 07701

Phone: 732-842-3853 Fax: 732-842-5631

http://www.retromedia.net

Tom Paterson wrote:
From: John Noll


These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim,

(snip)

Thanks for this.

Back in '74 I played bass for Sunnyland and Sam Lay. (snip)


Sunnyland Slim is very prominantly featured in this series. He comes
across as a very intelligent and dignified man, not to mention a great
musician.
--
--
John Noll
Retromedia Sound Studios
Red Bank, NJ 07701

Phone: 732-842-3853 Fax: 732-842-5631

http://www.retromedia.net

You ever play with Sam Lay at Lawrence University in Appleton,
Wisconsin? He used to come through fairly regularly in the early
70's. Part of my blues education.

On 07 Oct 2003 15:21:55 GMT, ospam (Tom Paterson)
wrote:

From: John Noll

These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim,
(snip)

Thanks for this.

Back in '74 I played bass for Sunnyland and Sam Lay. I got part of this story
back then, part later: My understanding is that Sunnyland (Albert Luandrew) and
Big Bill Broonzy "ran" the South Side scene post- WWII. They put together bands
to play in the many small clubs on the South Side (Sunnyland showed me the
highways that replaced the neighborhood one day). Slim's basement was one
rehearsal spot, thus one of the "birthplaces" of the Chicago sound.

This has also been ignored in another biography I heard on PBS, but Sunnyland
brought Muddy Waters to Chess (or "was instrumental in making the connection").
So he was an important figure in the Chicago Blues scene, besides being a
pretty impressive singer and piano player (IMHO a great walking left hand,
never a mistake until he was old and injured) in his own right.

I didn't get to watch all the Scorcese shows but all I saw of Sunnyland was a
very quick incidental look at the side of his face. Hope he got more than that,
he seems to have deserved it.

Certainly open to correction on any of this.

FWIW I'm on Earwig 4942, "She Got a Thing Goin' On", other cuts with Slim and
Bonnie Lee. The tapes were lost, the sound quality ain't great, but "She Got a
Thing Goin' On" was #20 (thank you Rodney Jones) on the WVON survey during the
summer of '74.

In loyalty... Thanks, Slim.
--Tom Paterson

You ever play with Sam Lay at Lawrence University in Appleton,
Wisconsin? He used to come through fairly regularly in the early
70's. Part of my blues education.

On 07 Oct 2003 15:21:55 GMT, ospam (Tom Paterson)
wrote:

From: John Noll

These DVD's were created using footage from these shows.
Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim,
(snip)

Thanks for this.

Back in '74 I played bass for Sunnyland and Sam Lay. I got part of this story
back then, part later: My understanding is that Sunnyland (Albert Luandrew) and
Big Bill Broonzy "ran" the South Side scene post- WWII. They put together bands
to play in the many small clubs on the South Side (Sunnyland showed me the
highways that replaced the neighborhood one day). Slim's basement was one
rehearsal spot, thus one of the "birthplaces" of the Chicago sound.

This has also been ignored in another biography I heard on PBS, but Sunnyland
brought Muddy Waters to Chess (or "was instrumental in making the connection").
So he was an important figure in the Chicago Blues scene, besides being a
pretty impressive singer and piano player (IMHO a great walking left hand,
never a mistake until he was old and injured) in his own right.

I didn't get to watch all the Scorcese shows but all I saw of Sunnyland was a
very quick incidental look at the side of his face. Hope he got more than that,
he seems to have deserved it.

Certainly open to correction on any of this.

FWIW I'm on Earwig 4942, "She Got a Thing Goin' On", other cuts with Slim and
Bonnie Lee. The tapes were lost, the sound quality ain't great, but "She Got a
Thing Goin' On" was #20 (thank you Rodney Jones) on the WVON survey during the
summer of '74.

In loyalty... Thanks, Slim.
--Tom Paterson