ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Film of the Alternative cinema: Authors' Collections series
USA, 2003
Runtime: 133 min
Director: Marc Levin
Director Marc Levin travels to Chicago with hip-hop legend Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess (son of Leonard Chess and heir to the Chess Records legacy) to explore the heyday of Chicago blues as they unite to produce an album that seeks to bring veteran blues players together with contemporary hip hop musicians. Along with never-before-seen archival footage of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, are original performances by Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Ike Turner, and Sam Lay.
Says Levin: «When we were shooting Sam Lay and his band at the Chicago Blues Festival, they were playing Muddy Waters' classic,'I Got My Mojo Workin.' I closed my eyes and was transported back to when I was a 15-year-old hanging in my buddy's basement listening to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for the first time. My life was changed that day, and 35 years later the music's still shakin' my soul. The feel of that day in the basement is what I have set out to capture in this film.»
Performances in Godfathers and Sons
Lonnie Brooks
Paul Butterfield
Common
Chuck D and Public Enemy
Bo Diddley
Sam Lay
Ike Turner
Pinetop Perkins
Otis Rush
Magic Slim
Smokey Smothers
Koko Taylor
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
“Electric Mud Band”: Pete Cosey, Phil Upchurch, Louis Satterfield, Morris Jennings
Kyle Rahzel and Ahmir (a.k.a.?uestlove) of The Roots
Muddy Waters
Sonny Boy Williamson
Howlin' Wolf
Willie Dixon
Blind Arvella Gray
Carrie Robinson
Interviews in Godfathers and Sons
Marshall Chess
Chuck D
Jamar Chess
Phil Chess
Koko Taylor
Magic Slim
Common
Sam Lay