We go into another room to find Willie Dixon playing bass and Memphis Slim playing an electric organ that was actually a pump organ with a vacuum cleaner pipe powering it, as we find out later in the making of film that comes with this film. Wow, to sit and watch Willie play Bass is incredible, and both he and Memphis do a good double act routine during the interview section when they are asked where the blues come from… and they explain about it coming from slavery and normally having double meanings in the lyrics. Next we are watching Jean Ritchie balancing her Dulcimer on the side of a sofa while she sings an old English folk song that sounds out of place at this party, but still pretty magical. But nothing prepares me for how incredible Peter Lafarge is, as I’m not sure I remember hearing of him before and he almost steals the film with his performance of “Ira Hayes.” Peter looks well out of it and like he’s struggling to stay upright, and yet he tells a story about Ira, an American Indian and one of the soldiers at Iwo Jima and a big hero who spends the rest of his life inside a whiskey bottle. It’s moving and affecting and brilliantly heartfelt, a real treat. We then switch back to Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon once more for “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine” before it’s time for one more little speech from Alan as our party host, and time for a communal sing along of “We Shall Overcome” in the tradition of every all-star concert ever since and every episode of Later with Jools Holand. The film is followed by Making Ballads Blues and Bluegrass wherein John Cohen and George Pickow talk us through the making of the film and also tell us about who’s who of the party guests and what they were asked to film and how they found the musicians they had in the room. They also say that Maria Muldaur has written a book about being at the parties in this film. It is also fascinating to hear the stories behind all these people and the camera and sound recording techniques used. This DVD is a brilliant historic document and the sort of film that I want to watch time and again for the incredible performances. If this review needs a grade it is a 10/10 must find and must watch film for capturing perfectly the Greenwich Village scene of 1961.
Ballads Blues & Bluegrass, a film by Alan Lomax (www.media-generation.com) (the association of cultural Equity/Alan Lomax Archive www.culturalequity.org ) Directed by Alan Lomax, Cameras by George Pickow, Sound by Jean Ritchie, Edited Anna Lomax Wood.
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