Barcelona Blues Society (SBB), the Catalan Classic Jazz Foundation and the Institute of North American Studies (IEN) would like to invite you to the presentation of the documentary Mémoire de Blues, about the origins of blues in Europe as told in the wonderful story of Jacques Morgantini and his wife Marcelle. These two cultural activists welcomed into their home the first blues musicians to ever perform in France, recording their music and scenes from their time together, now available on the DVD box set Mémoire de Blues by Jacques Gasser, a must-see for any fan of classic blues and jazz interested in the who’s who of the original scene in Europe.
On May 26 at 7 p.m. come and enjoy an intimate experience with Jacques Morgantini (92), sharing with him some of his never before released recordings from that time, and a chance to meet the maker of Mémoire de Blues, Jacques Gasser.
The panel of speakers will include Ricard Gili (artist and president of the Catalan Classic Jazz Foundation and director of La Locomotora Negra big band); Joan Perez Aznar (musician and translator of “The Encyclopedia of Blues” to Spanish); Miquel Abella (coordinator of the Blues Fund at Tecla Sala Library in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat); and Big Mama Montse (musician and president of the Barcelona Blues Society).
The Blues & Roots duo, formed by Johnny Big Stone & Sweet Marta, who have just come back from a long trip through the southern United States and Chicago, will provide live musical entertainment. Come and experience the gig of Sweet Marta’s great vocals and harmonicas and Johnny Big Stone’s guitars, a powerful blues performance that shouldn’t be missed. It promises to be a great show!
26 MAY 2016 – 7 p.m.
INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICAN STUDIES (IEN)
Via Augusta, 123
08006 Barcelona
Free Admission
JACQUES MORGANTINI: THE MAN WHO BROUGHT BLUES TO EUROPE
“MÉMOIRE DE BLUES” IS A TESTIMONY TO HIS DEVOTION TO BLUES
(Text: Big Mama Montse)
Perhaps the name Jacques Morgantini only means something to a few experts of the genre, but blues musicians are very aware of how important he and his wife Marcelle have been to their careers and the impact they have had on the stature of blues in Europe… Jacques Morgantini brought the first blues musicians to France and later traveled to Chicago with Marcelle and their son, where they recorded music at several blues clubs on the West Side and South Side of the Windy City with two soul mates, Jimmy Dawkins and Fred Below. There, they met Magic Slim, Jimmy Johnson, John Littlejohn, Luther “Snake” Johnson, Willie Kent and many others, recording blues sessions that have been immortalized in the documentary Mémoire de Blues.
Mémoire de Blues is an impressive 2 DVD historical blues documentary by Jacques Gasser based on the life and recordings of Jacques Morgantini and his wife from the 50s to the 80s. It tells the story of how this jazz master and VP of the Hot Cub of France (1950-1977) became interested in blues, and how he got his hands on blues recordings through cultural exchange with American fans of the genre, leading to personal meetings with the artists themselves. He went on to promote one of the first blues concerts in Europe, by Big Bill Broonzy in 1951 at a church in Pau, France, now the location of Méliès Cinemas. Later, he put on shows by artists like T-Bone Walker, Lionel Hampton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and John Lee Hooker, among others, and became close with Count Basie, Fred Below, Memphis Slim and the aforementioned Hampton, to name a few.
After Jacques and Marcelle Morgantini met in 1955 and got married, it was clear that the couple shared a passion for blues. They began inviting blues musicians, many of whom visiting Europe for the first time, to stay with them and play in Pau where they found an appreciative and caring audience. The Morgantini’s hospitality was not exactly something the blues artists had been used to in the ghettos of Chicago, and they came to adore the couple and Marcelle’s cassoulet… The family’s home in Gan, near Pau, became the scene of memorable impromptu blues sessions by contented musicians who felt loved and respected. Some of these sessions, recorded with the permission of the artists, remain unpublished, while others can be heard in Mémoire de Blues, including extraordinary recordings by Muddy Waters with his band, Johnny Shines; Luther “Snake” Johnson; Jimmy Rogers; Luther Allison; Koko Taylor, among others- real gems for blues lovers, affording a unique insight into the heart and soul of the blues artist.
As related in Jacques Morgantini’s biography, the couple first visited Chicago in 1975, followed by four more trips to the Maxwell Street neighborhood, where they were captivated by the improv blues street scene. Moreover, they were one of the few white couples to experience the potent blues milieu of the South Side and West Side clubs in a period of crisis for blues during which recording contracts for struggling African-American musicians playing on weekends and after work at laundries, kitchens or steelworks were unheard of.
On a visit to Morgantini’s house in Gan, where he served us the same mushroom omelet he used to serve his visiting blues houseguests, he told us how he had been amazed by Magic Slim’s (a.k.a. Maurice Holt) natural talent upon hearing him play for the first time in Chicago, and how he had asked him permission to record one of his concerts and have Marcelle’s company, MCM, release it on vinyl. When the Morgantinis later returned to Chicago with a copy of the album and the artist’s $400 fee, Magic Slim, who was used to playing in clubs for $5 a night, couldn’t believe his eyes. Greatly moved, he told Morgantini that the money was a godsend as he’d recently gotten married and had been worried about providing for his family, earning as little as he did at a local laundry. He said that he would always be grateful to his benefactors and sponsors, the Morgantinis, without whom his artistic career would have been impossible
One of the documentary’s greatest virtues is how it emphasizes Jacques Morgantini’s emotional understanding of blues and his depth of thought on the genre and its artists. As he modestly explains himself, this comes from his natural curiosity and his tendency to constantly pick the brains of the musicians he has worked with. His sensitivity and clarity of thought is reflected in Jacques Gasser’s superb documentary, which was built around the interviews he has had with him over more than ten years, in which he came to grasp the essence of Mortantini, a blues humanist.
In one of the film’s most poignant moments, Jacques Mogantini recalls Luther “Snake” Johnson’s last visit to Pau, this time very ill with cancer. At one point, the taping had to be halted temporarily to allow Morgantini to regain his composure, tears having welled up in his eyes remembering his friend, the artist, playing blues at his home in his delicate state… a very touching moment the viewer will long remember.
Another of the film’s highlights is the chapter on the great blues drummer, Fred Below, who can also be enjoyed in some extraordinary additional footage performing with the group The Aces.
Jacques Morgantini served as blues genre consultant to Jean-Marie Monestier of the “Black & Blue” label and participated in the production of some 60 albums, as his collaboration was regarded as a badge of quality of the performances as well as the recordings. Luther Allison recorded a song about his father and the way he treated his family. It turned out to be an intense, memorable session, but, unfortunately, the sound technician hadn’t raised the fader level sufficiently of the bass player, so the recording was unusable. Morgantini recalls that subsequent versions were good but never reached the level of that first memorable recording, during which Allison sang from the depths of his soul. This is just one of the many great anecdotes featured in the documentary as told by a first-hand witness to these remarkable events.
Jacques Morgantini also wrote album cover notes for many recordings, sometimes under his own name or using a pseudonym, always displaying his depth of understanding of the genre and with the aim of bringing the listener closer to the music and the artists.
To learn more, you’ll have to watch Mémoire de Blues yourself. We just want to express our profound gratitude that those recording sessions of blues history have been made available to the public thanks to the efforts of Jacques Gasser and Jacques and Marcelle Morgantini’s lifetime passion for blues. For the blues community, the recordings and visuals are an invaluable treasure that will no doubt delight any music lover who sees them. The documentary will be shown on 26 May, 2016, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the IEN at Via Augusta 123 in Barcelona at an event sponsored by the Barcelona Blues Society and the Catalan Classic Jazz Foundation. You also can buy it on the website:
