The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Calumet City, Illinois, U.S. |
Genres | Blues, rhythm and blues, soul, blues rock |
Years active | 1978 | –1982, 1988-present
Labels | Atlantic |
Members |
|
Website | bluesbrothersofficialsite |
The Blues Brothers are a fictitious American
A common misconception is that the act also originated on SNL. The Blues Brothers, however, was an independent project of Belushi and Aykroyd, first appearing as the opening act for comedian Steve Martin. Martin later appeared on Saturday Night Live as host, and The Blues Brothers appeared as musical guest.
The Blues Brothers Musical Revue consisted of lead vocalist 'Joliet' Jake Blues (Belushi) and his brother, Elwood (Aykroyd), who played a harmonica which he carried onstage in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. The duo were dressed in matching black suits, black pencil ties, black trilby hats and black sunglasses. The band itself was carefully constructed, and made up of experienced musicians of the time, including Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, "Blue" Lou Marini, Tom "Bones" Malone, and Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin.
In 1978, the band released their debut album, Briefcase Full of Blues, which was a recording of their original appearance with Steve Martin. Several subsequent albums followed. The act opened for the Grateful Dead at the closing of Winterland Arena in San Francisco, and gained further fame after spawning the Hollywood comedy film The Blues Brothers in 1980. They remain the most successful blues revue act of all time.
Belushi died in 1982, but the Blues Brothers continued to perform with a rotation of guest singers and other band members. The band re-formed in 1988 for a world tour and again in 1998 for the sequel film Blues Brothers 2000.
Band history
Origins
The genesis of the Blues Brothers was a January 17, 1976, Saturday Night Live sketch. In it, "
Following tapings of SNL, it was popular among cast members and the weekly hosts to attend Aykroyd's Holland Tunnel Blues bar, which he had rented not long after joining the cast. Aykroyd and Belushi filled a jukebox with songs from Sam & Dave, punk band The Viletones and others. Belushi bought an amplifier and they kept some musical instruments there for anyone who wanted to jam. It was at the bar that Aykroyd and Ron Gwynne wrote and developed the story which Aykroyd turned into the draft screenplay for the Blues Brothers movie, better known as the "tome", because it contained so many pages.
It was also at the bar that Aykroyd introduced Belushi to the blues. An interest soon became a fascination, and it was not long before the two began singing with local blues bands. Jokingly, SNL band leader Howard Shore suggested they call themselves "The Blues Brothers". In an April 1988, interview he gave to the Chicago Sun-Times, Aykroyd said the Blues Brothers act borrowed from Sam and Dave and others; the Sun-Times quoted him as explaining: "Well, obviously, the duo thing and the dancing, but the hats came from John Lee Hooker. The suits came from the concept that when you were a jazz player in the '40s, '50s '60s, to look straight, you had to wear a suit."
The band was modeled in part on Aykroyd's experience with the
So I grew up (in Ottawa), in this capital city. My parents used to work for the government, and I went to elementary school, high school, and the university in the city. And there was a place on
Sussex Drive (Sussex Drive is where the Prime Minister's house is, right below Parliament Hill), and there was a little club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt, and he brought every, and I mean every blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins and Muddy Waters. I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S. P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, “Little Red Rooster”, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. And of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University, Carleton, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture.[4]
The
Belushi's budding interest in the blues solidified in October 1977 when he was in
I was growing sick of rock and roll, it was starting to bore me ... and I hated disco, so I needed some place to go. I hadn't heard much blues before. It felt good.
In an interview with Crawdaddy he added:
I couldn't stop playing the stuff! I bought hundreds of records and singles ... I walked around playing that shit all the time. And then I knew Danny had played the harp in Canada, and I always could sing, so we created the Blues Brothers.[7]
Salgado lent him some albums by Floyd Dixon, Charles Brown, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and others. Belushi was hooked.[8]
Belushi began to join Salgado on stage, singing the Floyd Dixon song "Hey, Bartender" on a few occasions, and using Salgado's humorous alternate lyrics to "I Don't Know":
I said Woman, you going to walk a mile for a Camel
or are you going to make like Mr. Chesterfield and satisfy?
She said, that all depends on what you're packing,
regular or king-size.
Then she pulled out my Jim Beam and to her surprise
It was every bit as hard as my Canadian Club
These lyrics were used in the band's debut performance on SNL.
Band formation
With the help of pianist-arranger Paul Shaffer, Belushi and Aykroyd started assembling a collection of studio talents to form their own band.[1] These included SNL band members saxophonist "Blue" Lou Marini and trombonist-saxophonist Tom Malone, who had previously played in Blood, Sweat & Tears. At Shaffer's suggestion, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the powerhouse combo from Booker T. & the M.G.'s and subsequently almost every hit out of Memphis' Stax Records during the 1960s, were signed as well.
Belushi wanted a powerful trumpet player and a hot blues guitarist, so Juilliard-trained trumpeter Alan Rubin was brought in, as was guitarist Matt "Guitar" Murphy, who had performed with many blues legends.
For the brothers' look, Belushi borrowed John Lee Hooker's trademark Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and soul patch.
Sound
In Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers, a 1998 documentary included on some DVD editions of the first Blues Brothers film, Cropper noted that some of his peers thought that he and the other musicians backing the Blues Brothers were selling out to Hollywood or using a gimmick to make some quick money. Cropper responded by stating that he thought Belushi was as good as (or even better than) many of the singers he had backed; he also noted that Belushi had, early in his career, briefly been a professional drummer, and had an especially keen sense of rhythm.
Albums, early gigs, character backgrounds
The Blues Brothers recorded their first album,
The album liner notes fleshed out the fictional backstory of Jake and Elwood,
The band, along with the
With the film came the
Belushi's wife, Judith Jacklin, and his friend, Tino Insana, wrote a book, Blues Brothers: Private, that further fleshed out the Blues Brothers' universe and gave a back story for the first movie.
In 1981,
On March 5, 1982, Belushi died in Hollywood of an accidental overdose of heroin and cocaine.
After Belushi's death, updated versions of the Blues Brothers have performed on SNL and for charitable and political causes. Aykroyd has been accompanied by Jim Belushi and John Goodman in character as "Zee" Blues and "Mighty Mack" McTeer. The copyright owners have also authorized some copycat acts to perform under the Blues Brothers name; one such act performs regularly at the Universal Studios Florida theme park in Orlando, Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood.
In 1995, the Band collaborated with the Italian singer Zucchero Fornaciari, who had been invited to the event in memory of John Belushi's 46th birthday. After a concert together, they registered the videoclip of the Zucchero song "Per colpa di chi?" at the House of Blues. In 1997, an animated sitcom with Jake and Elwood was planned, but scrapped after only eight episodes were produced. Peter Aykroyd and Jim Belushi replaced their brothers as the voices of Elwood and Jake.[10]
To promote
Aykroyd has continued to be an active proponent of blues music and parlayed this avocation into foundation and partial ownership of the House of Blues franchise, a national chain of nightclubs. In Italy the franchise is now owned by Zucchero, who used the brand during the tour promoting his album Black Cat of 2016.
Jim Belushi toured with the band for a short time as "Zee Blues", and recorded the album Blues Brothers and Friends: Live from Chicago's House of Blues with Dan Aykroyd. Jim would later reunite with Aykroyd to record yet another album, not as the Blues Brothers but as themselves: Belushi/Aykroyd – Have Love Will Travel (Big Men-Big Music).
In 2004, the musical The Blues Brothers Revival premiered in Chicago. The story was about Elwood trying to rescue Jake from an eternity in limbo/purgatory. The musical was written and composed with approval and permission from both the John Belushi estate (including his widow, Judith Belushi-Pisano) and Dan Aykroyd.
The Blues Brothers featuring Elwood and Zee regularly perform at House of Blues venues and various casinos across North America. They are usually backed by Jim Belushi's Sacred Hearts Band. The Original Blues Brothers Band tours the world regularly. The only original members still in the band are Steve Cropper and Lou Marini. The lead singers are Bobby "Sweet Soul" Harden, Rob "The Honeydripper" Papparozi and Tommy "Pipes" McDonnel. They are occasionally joined by Eddie Floyd.
Aykroyd most recently hosted a radio show as his character Elwood Blues on the weekly House of Blues Radio Hour, heard nationwide on the
Films
The Blues Brothers
In
Blues Brothers 2000
With Landis again directing, the sequel to The Blues Brothers was made in 1998. It fared considerably worse than its predecessor with fans and critics, though it is more ambitious in terms of musical performances by the band and has a more extensive roster of guest artists than the first film. The story picks up 18 years later with Elwood being released from prison, and learning that his brother has died. He is once again prevailed upon to save some orphans, and with a 10-year-old boy named Buster Blues (
Discography
Soundtrack albums
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Label |
---|---|---|---|
US | |||
1980 | The Blues Brothers | 13 | Atlantic |
Live albums
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Label |
---|---|---|---|
US | |||
1978 | Briefcase Full of Blues | 1 | Atlantic |
1980 | Made in America | 49 | Atlantic |
1997 | Blues Brothers and Friends: Live from Chicago's House of Blues | - | (House of Blues) |
Compilation albums
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Label |
---|---|---|---|
US | |||
1981 | Best of the Blues Brothers
|
143 | Atlantic |
1983 | Dancin' Wid Da Blues Brothers
|
- | Atlantic |
1988 | Everybody Needs Blues Brothers | - | Atlantic |
1992 | The Definitive Collection | - | Atlantic |
1995 | The Very Best of The Blues Brothers | - | Atlantic/EastWest |
1998 | The Blues Brothers Complete | - | Atlantic/EastWest |
2003 | The Essentials | - | Atlantic |
2005 | Gimme Some Lovin' & Other Hits | - | Flashback Records |
2008 | American Music Legends | - | Rhino Custom Products/Cracker Barrel Old Country Store |
2017 | An Introduction to Blues Brothers | - | Atlantic Records/ Rhino Records
|
2017 | Drop the Needle on the Hits: The Best of the Blues Brothers | - | Rhino Records |
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
US | |||
1979 | "Soul Man" | 14 | Briefcase Full of Blues (1978) |
"Rubber Biscuit" | 37 | ||
1980 | "Gimme Some Lovin'" | 18 | The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack (1980)
|
1981 | "Who's Making Love" | 39 | Made in America (1980) |
"Going Back to Miami" | 108 |
Other appearances
- 1998 – Universal Records)
The Elwood Blues Revue
Live albums
- 1988 – Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary (Atlantic) (as The Elwood Blues Revue)
Other appearances
- 1988 – The Great Outdoors soundtrack (Atlantic) (as The Elwood Blues Revue)
- 1992 – Nothing but Trouble (Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Warner Bros / WEA) (as The Elwood Blues Revue)
The Blues Brothers Band
Studio albums
- 1992 – Red, White & Blues (WEA)[13]
- 2017 – The Last Shade of Blue Before Black (The Original Blues Brothers Band, Severn Records)
Live albums
Other appearances: Blue Brothers Horns
- 1995 – Jesse "Wild Bill" Austin: Baby's Back (Roesch Records) (Lou Marini, Alan Rubin & Birch Johnson)
- 1997 – Eddie King: Another Cow's Dead (Roesch Records) ( Lou Marini, Alan Rubin & Birch Johnson plus Ronnie Cuber)
- 2000 – Matt "Guitar" Murphy: Lucky Charm (Roesch Records) (Lou Marini, Alan Rubin & Birch Johnson)
- 2014 – Johnny Winter: Step Back (Megaforce) (Lou Marini & Tom Malone)
Band members
Original lineup
While not all members appeared in the original film, the full band included:
- "Joliet" Jake E. Blues – lead vocals
- harmonica, vocals
- Booker T & the M.G.'s)
- , other artists)
- Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass guitar (former Booker T & the M.G.'s)
- Paul "The Shiv" Shaffer – keyboards, arranger (Saturday Night Live Band, does not appear in the film)
- Murphy Dunne – keyboards, tambourine (appears in the film due to Paul Shaffer's commitment to perform with Gilda Radner in Gilda Live!, and toured with the band in the summer of 1980)
- Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin – trumpet (Saturday Night Live Band)
- "Blue" Lou Marini – saxophone (Saturday Night Live Band)
- Tom "Triple Scale" Scott – saxophone (does not appear in the film, but played on the soundtrack)
- Tom "Bones" Malone – trombone, trumpet, saxophone (Saturday Night Live Band)
- Birch "Crimson Slide" Johnson – trombone (does not appear in the film)
- Willie "Too Big" Hall – drums, percussion (formerly of the Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes' band, appears in the film)
- Steve "Getdwa" Jordan – drums, percussion (Saturday Night Live Band, appears only on the albums)
Other members
At times, other members have included:
- Jim Belushi (as "Brother" Zee Blues) – vocals
- John Goodman (as "Mighty Mack" McTeer) – vocals
- Buster Blues – harmonica, vocals (acted by J. Evan Bonifant in Blues Brothers 2000, actual harmonica recorded by John Popper)
- Joe Morton (as Cabel "Cab" Chamberlain) – vocals
- Cab Calloway – vocals (d. 1994)[15]
- Larry "T" Thurston – vocals
- Eddie "Knock on Wood" Floyd – vocals
- Sam "Soul Man" Moore – vocals
- Bobby "Sweet Soul" Harden – vocals
- Tommy "Pipes" McDonnell – harmonica, vocals
- Rob "The Honeydripper" Paparozzi – harmonica, vocals
- Don Gregory Blues - vocals
- Andrea Mingardi - harmonica, vocals
- Leon "The Lion" Pendarvis – piano, vocals, arranger
- David "Spin" Spinozza – guitar
- Danny "G-Force" Gottlieb – drums
- Jimmy "Jimmy B" Biggins – saxophone
- "Dizzy" Daniel Moorehead – saxophone
- Anthony "Rusty" Cloud – clavinet, Wurlitzer, piano and organ
- Eric "The Red" Udel – bass
- John "Smokin" Tropea – guitar
- Jimmy "Mack" Hodge – guitar
- Lee "Funky Time" Finkelstein – drums
- Steve Potts– drums
- Anton Fig – drums
- Larry "Trombonius Maximus" Farrell – trombone
- Alto Reed – saxophone
- Steve "Catfish" Howard – trumpet
- Jonny "The Rock & Roll Doctor" Rosch – vocals, harmonica
- Francisco Simon – guitar
See also
- Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches
Notes
- ^ Aykroyd played with Downchild in the fall of 2009, during the band's 40th anniversary tour: "...when one thinks of blues music in Canada, the first name that springs to mind is DOWNCHILD. It's been 40 years since Donnie 'Mr. Downchild' Walsh and his late brother Hock, formed the renowned group that would be the inspiration for the world famous Blues Brothers. DOWNCHILD plans to celebrate this anniversary in style, with some very special friends—including blues brother and movie icon DAN AYKROYD."[2] When the Blues Brothers played the Casino Rama in 2005, Donnie "Mr. Downchild" Walsh appeared as their guest.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d Zeman, Ned (January 2013). "Soul Men: The Making of The Blues Brothers". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
- ^ "Downchild Announces 40th Anniversary Tour With Very Special Guest Dan Aykroyd". Downchild. Linus Entertainment. July 21, 2009. Archived from the original on March 10, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
- ^ "Downchild Blues Band (w/Elwood)". BluesBrothersCentral.com. August 4, 2009. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009.
- ^ Gatchet, Roger (May 18, 2007). "Still on a mission from God". Austinsound.net. Archived from the original on April 13, 2010.
- ^ "Biography – Curtis Salgado". Retrieved September 7, 2023.
- ^ Slotek, Jim (February 4, 2000). "Bye to blues brother: Downchild's Donnie Walsh talks about late sibling". Jam! Music. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Crawdaddy, December 1978
- Eugene Register-Guard, January 4, 1979.
- ^ "Biography of the Blues Brothers from their album, A Briefcase Full of Blues". fortunecity.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2006.
- ^ "The Blues Brothers Animated Series (TV Series 1997– )". IMDb.
- ^ "The Sam T. Blues Revue". 977thebolt.
- ^ "The Blues Brothers". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
- ^ "Red, White & Blues". BluesBrothersCentral.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
- ^ "The Blues Brothers Live in Montreaux". BluesBrothersCentral.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
- ^ "The Blues Brothers". IMDb.
External links
- Official DVD site
- Fan Site
- The Blues Brothers at AllMusic
- House of Blues Radio Hour (Hosted by Dan Aykroyd)
- Interview (MP3) with John Belushi biographer Tanner Colby and widow Judith Belushi Pisano on the public radio program National LampoonRadio Hour.
- The Blues Brothers DVD