"PRIDE AND
JOY: The
Story of Alligator Records - Theatrical music docu by DEEP
BLUES director
Robert Mugge uses the March 1992 Alligator Records 20th Anniversary
Tour concert at Philadelphia's Chestnut Cabaret as the hub for
a fascinating look at the pivotal Chicago blues label. While
Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine, the Lonnie Brooks Blues Band,
Elvin Bishop, Katie Webster, and Lil' Ed & Blues Imperials
are uniformly dynamite, they are overshadowed by the near fairy
tale of idealistic label head Bruce Iglauer, who came to Chicago
out of college to hang out at the Southside blues bars and apprentice
with legendary Delmark Records head Bob Koester before launching
his own blues line - all for the love of the genre. Beautifully
captured too are the ups and downs of indie labeldom, as well as
Iglauer's ever-articulate insights into the wonderful universality
of the blues experience."
- Jim Bessman, Billboard |
|
"THE
KINGDOM OF ZYDECO is both a cunning
little comedy of manners and a sweet-tempered celebration of
American roots music. It chronicles the
sea change that took place in the black Creole music scene of
southwest Louisiana with the deaths of both Clifton Chenier and
Rockin' Dopsie, king and crown prince, respectively, of zydeco
music. Who, then, assumes titular leadership of this righteously
rocking, washboard-driven sub-genre of rhythm-and-blues? A
colorful, engaging cast of disc jockeys, club owners, record
dealers and other zydeco artists have their own opinions and
biases in the matter. The Chavis-Jocque tussle is prototypical
American status buffoonery painted in folk miniature. Both
these men kick out the jams in thrilling performances filmed
with blissful authority by Mugge, a specialist in roots music
documentaries such as 1991's DEEP BLUES. It's
Chenier's legacy - and Mugge's observational skills - that triumph
in the end."
- Gene Seymour, New York Newsday |
