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Hellhounds on My Trail - The Afterlife of Robert Johnson
: :Delta bluesman Robert Johnson died in obscurity more than 60 years ago, leaving behind a grand total of 29 recorded songs. There are more videos about him (three and counting) than there are known pictures of him (two). Yet with each passing year, Johnson's legend and legacy continue to grow and flourish. Witness this package, directed by Robert Mugge and chronicling the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's annual American Music Makers series, a weeklong program that in 1998 was devoted to Johnson's work. Part concert, part documentary (including interviews and ...
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Gospel According to Al Green
: :Gospel According to Al Green is a fascinating 1984 documentary about soul music's most insinuating singer, Al Green. Directed by Robert Mugge, it captures an expansive Green talking about his career and performing in front of a military crowd in a hotel ballroom. Green's high, seductive voice, passionate performing style, and sinewy stage presence make the musical sections of the film compelling--even if you're not a fan of gospel music. Because, at this particular juncture in his career, that's what Green was performing, though the songs have the slow-boiling insistence of ...
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Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise
: :One of jazz music's most entertaining and eccentric figures is profiled in Robert Mugge's hourlong, 1980 profile of the late bandleader-keyboardist-composer Sun Ra. 'I don't consider myself one of the humans,' he once said. 'I'm a spiritual being,' who was reputed to eschew the usual jazzman's indulgences of drugs and sex and who, despite the weird trappings (he and his big band, the Intergalactic Omniverse Arkestra, usually performed in glittery costumes that combined African, alien, and thrift-shop styles), infused his music with a strong sense of discipline and precision. Here we ...
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Black Wax
: :The poet, vocalist, and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron is both the descendant of the African griots and the forefather of rap. In the early '70s, he boldly proclaimed that 'the revolution will not be televised,' and in the '80s he warned us of the 'New World Order' with his prophetic and satirical single, 'B Movie.' The gifted filmmaker Robert Mugge filmed the controversial artist in performance at the now-defunct Wax Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Mugge alternates between the electrifying soul/jazz/funk grooves of Scott- Heron's Midnight Band and his witty and ...
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Entertaining the Troops
: :The poet, vocalist, and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron is both the descendant of the African griots and the forefather of rap. In the early '70s, he boldly proclaimed that 'the revolution will not be televised,' and in the '80s he warned us of the 'New World Order' with his prophetic and satirical single, 'B Movie.' The gifted filmmaker Robert Mugge filmed the controversial artist in performance at the now-defunct Wax Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Mugge alternates between the electrifying soul/jazz/funk grooves of Scott- Heron's Midnight Band and his witty and ...
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Pride & Joy: Story of Alligator Records
: :The poet, vocalist, and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron is both the descendant of the African griots and the forefather of rap. In the early '70s, he boldly proclaimed that 'the revolution will not be televised,' and in the '80s he warned us of the 'New World Order' with his prophetic and satirical single, 'B Movie.' The gifted filmmaker Robert Mugge filmed the controversial artist in performance at the now-defunct Wax Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1982. Mugge alternates between the electrifying soul/jazz/funk grooves of Scott- Heron's Midnight Band and his witty and ...
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Hawaiian Rainbow
:Description:Hawaiian Rainbow examines Hawaii’s traditional chants, percussion, ukulele, slack-key and steel guitar, male and female falsetto and lush vocal harmonies, all of them accompanied by authentic Hawaiian hula.
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Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
: :When a jazz musician plays a solo that lasts for a full 15 minutes, not one of which is less than inspired, powerful, and entertaining; and when he later, in the midst of an inventive and witty unaccompanied solo, exuberantly leaps from the stage, breaks his heel in the process, and continues to play on his back.... Well, you know you're witnessing something special. And so it is with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. While he may not be as universally known as Charlie Parker or John Coltrane, jazz fans have regarded ...
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Kumu Hula: Keepers of a Culture
:Description:The hula is the dance of the Hawaiian people and has been practiced since 500 AD. The hula tradition has been passed on for generations by kahuna (priests and sages) and by kumu hula (master teachers).
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Gather at the River: A Bluegrass Celebration
:Description:The hula is the dance of the Hawaiian people and has been practiced since 500 AD. The hula tradition has been passed on for generations by kahuna (priests and sages) and by kumu hula (master teachers).
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