Book Review: "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues"

A coffee-table book with style and substance, Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues sports more than just a pretty face. This hefty tome includes writing by some of the most passionate experts on the blues as well as a wealth of rare and obscure photos.

A companion book to the acclaimed television series produced by Oscar award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese for PBS, this lush collection of articles, reviews, interviews, and observations on the blues is illustrated by dozens of rare and obscure color and B&W photos. Like the Scorsese docu-drama, the book is divided into seven sections (one for each of the films that made up the TV series), and features the writing of some of the best music journalists and biographers in the world, including editors Peter Guralnick, Robert Santelli, Holly George-Warren, and Christopher John Farley.

More than a mere coffee table book, Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues provides an abundance of information and recollections on the blues, more than a few from the artists themselves. Among the bluesmen quoted in the book you'll find Otis Spann, John Lee Hooker, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, and Michael Bloomfield. The book covers a wide range of blues styles and history, and other essays and articles touch upon such diverse artists as 1920s-era guitar-picker Blind Lemon Jefferson and folk-bluesman Furry Lewis to Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy, and nearly every artist of importance in-between.

Weighing in at an impressive two pounds and 288 pages, the book is beautifully-crafted, and attractively priced in both hardback and paperback editions. Out-of-print, but the book is easy and inexpensive to find from online retailers.