I'm fortunate to be the guy who re-claimed/remastered these recording's ( now on Rhino Records as The Blues Master's) The producer asked me if there was any value in "these old tapes" & I got to transfer 27 hours of performance from 1967 recorded over 3 days in the main studio at CBC in Toronto, Canada. The 2" tapes were laid back from a 2" AMPEX tape desk in 1995 to a digital format. I re-mastered the audio on a Dyaxsis work station. Very rare performances - Willie, Muddy, Sunnyland, & more.
They showed the show you're talking about on CBC archives one night on TV. It was Barry Callaghan who narrated it and it was an incredible show. It was from a show called From The Vault and it was on a Wed. night on the CBC History Channel. Lucky you, Thx. for sharing.
You want to know the secret of how Willie was such a great bass player? Don't watch his hands, look at his face. He's having the time of his life there. If you're not having fun playing, you won't ever be great no matter how much you practice. He loved it, and that's why he was the man.
I'm an upright bassist, a crap one at best but a bassist none the less. Can't preach enough how much this guy revolutionised the way Bass was seen, probably one of the first blues musicians ever to go on a big stage and slap an upright like that
When I was a kid my mom, who worked at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga , Ca) said, " there's someone playing this weekend you might want to see. I can get you tickets, his name is Dirty River". I said , "Mom you mean Muddy Waters?" . I got to see Willie Dixon, Pine Top Perkins, Willie "Big Eye" Smith, James Cotton... Johnny Winter came out and played, too.
At almost 75 I am learning to play bass. 3 yrs of private lessons and - so far - 2nd semester of playing with a youth jazz group. What a discovery for me to find Willie Dixon. This version is exciting and gives me some ideas. The 1st minute or so reminds me of the boogie-woogie bass line in Duke Ellington's "Saratoga Swing".
"Blues are the roots, everything else is the fruits." - Willie Dixon :) Sure, Blues is just essence of life into a musical context. And everything in music come from life, so from the blues.
great bassist, producer, writer and all around musician. i live in chicago so i went to the former Chess records building which is now a blues museum, learned a hell of alot about him there
Haaa el maestro del blues. aquel blues de esos tiempos contrabajo un buen piano y unas percuciones exlentes :D y por supuesto que buenos musicos muy buenos diria yo.
This must be what you get from years of playing with duos and trios with no drummer for a room full of great dancers....amazing, it's just like breathing to him. Sunnyland Slim is wonderful here too.
It’s amazing the among Willie’s amazing musical talents and arguably the best bassist to ever play, he was a Golden Gloves boxing champ and Joe Louis’s sparring partner. So Willie must have been a beast with his hands, yet the nice, gentle guy.
music is all about a feeling ,everyone has them now the expressions used to convey them to the masses, well thats the talent of the great musiciansand vocalist through the years tribal, operas orchestras,jazz,r&b,rock, and country their all about expressions???? all music has soul thats where it come from!!!!!can you say express yourself,thats what they do;
Man Willie is just the best, he was like the conducter of the blues movement back then and he's an amazing musician, just look at his hands move around!
Man this one of the most impressive bass playing I have ever seen. I play the bass and after viewing Willie, I know what it will be to be the best. God rest your soul Willie. I loved this.
The godfather of the blues! His songs are blues and rock history! The most famous musicians of the 20th century covered his songs. The list of bands that have covered his songs is long and significant. Dixon deserves greater credit for his influence on music over the last century.
Great direction setting up the shot so that Willie's hands and the pianist's are visible in the same shot - from two directions. Somebody knew how to film musicians.
Andrew Luandrew on the piano. went by the name -Sunnyland Slim Willie Dixon??? one of a few who can/could say - I am the blues without anyone contesting THX for this gem, ragbaken! gl2all
You can find a live record of this song, recalled "rocking and rolling the house", with Memphis Slim on piano, "live in Paris" Enjoy! In my opnion, that's Sunnyland Slim playing piano there.
You can find a great live version on 'Memphis Slim Aux 'Trois Maille -:- Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon'. One of my all time favourite live blues albums. Enjoy.
@ItzhakWoolf I'm very grateful that Willie's music provided cover inspiration for Foghat, Zepp and the Doors; of which they in turn paid serious justice to the maestro in the form of their arrangements, along with hundreds of others musicians. The evolution of music is the grandest of things until you run into artists that don't 'get it;' of which everyone can name a few covers that represent that catagory