Last Friday my wife gave me a music DVD to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was “Muddy Waters Classic Concerts”. The DVD contains 3 Muddy Waters concerts – Newport Jazz Festival 1960, Copenhagen (Denmark) Jazz Festival 1968, and Molde (Norway) Jazz Festival 1977.
The concerts in Denmark and Norway are exactly what you’d expect – accomplished musicians performing very well what they’ve done very well a thousand times before.
The Newport Jazz Festival performance is in quite a different category. In short, it’s an exquisite 26-minute musical gem that reminds me why I like music so much.
The video content of the DVD was recorded by the US Information Agency to be played at military bases around the world, and included a mono soundtrack. The audio of the DVD was recorded in stereo by Chess Records and was subsequently released as the well known album “Muddy Waters Live at Newport”. The producers of the DVD took the opportunity to sync the stereo recordings with the original video footage. The result is a classic video with excellent sound quality.
So what’s so good about this concert? Well firstly it’s obvious that the band and the audience are having a lot of fun. Compare that to the Denmark and Norway concerts where Muddy is checking his watch because he can’t wait to get off stage. Secondly it was great to see a black band playing in the United States in 1960 to a black and (mainly) white audience who are all enjoying the music together. Thirdly – and most importantly – it’s such a good performance by Muddy and his band. This is a musician who is totally on top of his art, full of confidence in his own ability. He plays lovely guitar and has such a rich voice. Fourthly, it is humorous too; wait until you see the two black men dancing on stage during the last track!
The Newport concert comprises only 5 songs:
• Hoochie Coochie Man
• Tiger in Your Tank
• Rollin’ Stone
• Got My Mojo Working
• Mean Mistreater
Hoochie Coochie Man and Got My Mojo Working are also played at the other two concerts, providing the viewer with an opportunity to compare and contrast Muddy’s work over a 17 year period. However it’s the Newport concert that wins hands down for me!
The concerts in Denmark and Norway are exactly what you’d expect – accomplished musicians performing very well what they’ve done very well a thousand times before.
The Newport Jazz Festival performance is in quite a different category. In short, it’s an exquisite 26-minute musical gem that reminds me why I like music so much.
The video content of the DVD was recorded by the US Information Agency to be played at military bases around the world, and included a mono soundtrack. The audio of the DVD was recorded in stereo by Chess Records and was subsequently released as the well known album “Muddy Waters Live at Newport”. The producers of the DVD took the opportunity to sync the stereo recordings with the original video footage. The result is a classic video with excellent sound quality.
So what’s so good about this concert? Well firstly it’s obvious that the band and the audience are having a lot of fun. Compare that to the Denmark and Norway concerts where Muddy is checking his watch because he can’t wait to get off stage. Secondly it was great to see a black band playing in the United States in 1960 to a black and (mainly) white audience who are all enjoying the music together. Thirdly – and most importantly – it’s such a good performance by Muddy and his band. This is a musician who is totally on top of his art, full of confidence in his own ability. He plays lovely guitar and has such a rich voice. Fourthly, it is humorous too; wait until you see the two black men dancing on stage during the last track!
The Newport concert comprises only 5 songs:
• Hoochie Coochie Man
• Tiger in Your Tank
• Rollin’ Stone
• Got My Mojo Working
• Mean Mistreater
Hoochie Coochie Man and Got My Mojo Working are also played at the other two concerts, providing the viewer with an opportunity to compare and contrast Muddy’s work over a 17 year period. However it’s the Newport concert that wins hands down for me!
