Review - Chicago Blues Jam DVD

Santa proved to be very kind once again this year. He dropped off a copy of the Chicago Blues Jam featuring Billy Branch and Keb Mo. It's a very cool DVD that was shot at Buddy Guy's Legends during the mid 90's. Keb Mo contributes a couple of very nice acoustic blues tunes, but the bulk of this disc and the really cool part one is the portion focused on Billy Branch.

The disc features some really cool performances and interview segments with Billy. The interviews are focused on his early years in Chicago. To most of the people familiar with Billy and his music, there isn't really much new stuff that was presented during the interview segments, but it was very cool to hear the story come from the man himself without edits.

The musical performances are really very cool. Billy, his singing and his incredible harmonica playing are front and center throughout the performance. It features one of the most powerful combinations of the Sons Of Blues. The members of the band include: Carl Weathersby (guitar), Melvin Smith (bass) and current SOB Mose Rutues (drums). Billy handles the majority of the vocal duties and Carl contributes a couple of nice tunes. For people familiar with the SOB's of this era, this disc provides a really nice trip down memory lane. For people new to Billy Branch and his music this DVD captures the aspects of live performance that studio CD's simply can not capture.

The production quality is good. The quality of the music in excellent. There are several other discs in the series. If this DVD is any indication, these are really worth picking up for lovers of Chicago Blues. It's available dirt cheap online from Amazon and it provides a really nice view into Billy and his music.