Distribution : PBS
Production : Clint Eastwood, Bruce Ricker.
Producteur associé : Salimah El-Amin, Agnes Chu.
Réalisation : Clint Eastwood
Montage : Joel Cox, Gary Roach.
Musique : Pinetop Perkins, Jay McShann, Marcia Ball, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Dr John...

Interview de Clint Eastwood à l'occasion de Piano Blues

Fats Domino came to the plains of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming when we were making Any Which Way You Can. He started playing one of his songs, "I Want to Walk You Home," on a grand piano. All of a sudden everyone stopped and looked over the side of the hill and there were about ten elk. They were all standing there with their heads tilted to where the sounds were coming from — as soon as Fats stopped playing, they left. They were fascinated. Everybody likes the blues.

I think music plays a very important part in a movie by punctuating the drama, and it is important that it enhances the drama and does not intrude upon it. There are moments when silence in a film can play a very important part as well. To me the complications of the theme are dictated according to what the story calls for. I've done a lot of movies where I have been lucky enough to incorporate jazz and the blues — two of America's great art forms.

When I was a kid music was a constant. After Fats Waller died, my mother brought home a whole collection of his records, saying that they would be the last of his music to be available. I learned to play the piano by listening to his records and trying to imitate other jazz and blues artists of that era. I taught myself to play a little stride piano and a three-chord, eight-beat thing. I became interested in boogie-woogie, jazz, and bebop. I was telling stories on the piano long before I ever directed a movie. In my movies, I like the image of the piano player: The piano player sits down, plays, tells his story, and then gets up and leaves, letting the music speak for itself.

My love for the blues continued while growing up in Oakland, California. On the radio and on records, I heard great piano players, like Art Tatum, George Shearing, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and Erroll Garner, as well as the boogie-woogie piano players, such as Clarence "Pine Top" Smith, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Meade "Lux" Lewis, and Jay McShann. There was a musical scene that allowed all kinds of styles to flourish, including gospel, which is where I think much of the blues started in the churches of the South.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of being on a program with Jay McShann at Carnegie Hall. I was playing "After Hours" by Avery Parrish on the piano, and I hadn't played this song in many years. The deal was Jay was going to come in and take over. I had said, "I don't know if I know all of it . . . be sure and make certain McShann comes in and takes over." So, there I am playing on stage at Carnegie Hall and all of a sudden I am coming to the end of my repertoire and Jay wasn't there. Afterward, Jay said, "Well, you seem to be doing OK, I just thought I'd let you go."

Recently I asked Jay McShann, "Would you describe yourself as happy?" He told me, "Pretty much, but sometimes you can't see from lookin'." In doing the movie about piano blues I want the camera to look but not get in the way of seeing.

—Clint Eastwood

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1. Jimmy Yancey
How Long Blues - 3:01
(L. Carr)
Enregistré le 4 mai 1939

2. The Boogie Woogie Boys
Boogie Woogie Prayer, Pt. 1 - 2:22
(A. Ammons/M. Lewis/P. Johnson)
Enregistré le 30 décembre 1938

3. Count Basie And His Orchestra
How Long Blues - 3:00
(L. Carr)
Enregistré le 24 juin 1939

4. Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
Driftin' Blues - 3:12
(C. Brown/J. Moore/E. Williams)
Enregistré le 11 septembre 1945

5. Fats Domino
The Fat Man - 2:38
(D. Bartholomew/A. Domino)
Enregistré le 10 décembre 1949

6. Art Tatum
Tatum Pole Boogie - 2:23
(A. Tatum)
Enregistré en 1949

7. Professor Longhair
Tipitina - 2:40
(R. Byrd)
Enregistré en novembre 1953

8. Ray Charles
What'd I Say, Parts 1 & 2 - 5:07
(R. Charles)
Enregistré le 18 février 1959

9. Otis Spann
Good Morning Mr. Blues - 3:19
(O. Spann)
Enregistré à Copenhagen en 1961-1962

10. Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus & Max Roach
Backward Country Boy Blues - 6:33
(E.K. Ellington)
Enregistré le 17 septembre 1962

11. Thelonious Monk
Blue Monk - 6:14
(T. Monk)
Enregistré le 19 novembre 1968

12. Big Joe Turner & Jay McShann
Piney Brown Blues - 5:00
(J. Turner)
Enregistré en 1974

13. Jay McShann & Dave Brubeck
Mission Ranch Blues
(J. McShann/D. Brubeck)
Enregistré à Carmel, Californie, le 21 septembre 2002

14. Joe Turner
The Ladder - 2:30
(J. Turner)
Enregistré le 25 février 1975

15. Dr. John
Honey Dripper - 3:38
(J. Liggins)
Enregistré en 1981

16. Henry Townsend
World Full Of People - 3:59
(H. Townsend)
Enregistré les 12-13 octobre 1999

17. Dr. John
Big Chief
(J. Gaines)
Enregistré à Burbank le 1er juillet 2003

18. Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins & Marcia Ball
Carmel Blues
(J. Perkins/M. Ball)
Enregistré à Carmel, Californie le 21 septembre 2002

19. Dave Brubeck
Travelling Blues
(D. Brubeck)
Enregistré à Carmel, Californie le 21 septembre 2002

20. Dr. John, Pete Jolly, Henry Gray
How Long Blues
(L. Carr)
Enregistré à Burbank le 1er juillet 2003

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