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Review: Paul Butterfield’s Story Is Told in ‘Horn From the Heart’ – The New York Times






Review: Paul Butterfield’s Story Is Told in ‘Horn From the Heart’ – The New York Times



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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/movies/horn-from-the-heart-review-paul-butterfield.html?emc=edit_fm_20181019
 
Review: Paul Butterfield’s Story Is Told in ‘Horn From the Heart’
Glenn KennyOct. 16, 2018
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/10/17/arts/17hornfromtheheart/merlin_145246920_3ad8fa62-a963-4e4f-a7c3-156987dcb44a-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale
Paul Butterfield with his band in the documentary “Horn From the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story.”Henry Diltz/Abramorama
The blues, once the foundation of several dominating modes of American popular music, still informs what we hear in our homes and on our devices, but not as overtly as it used to. We don’t talk about blues artists that much today. Like jazz and folk, it is, in its ostensibly pure form, appreciated in small corners by enthusiasts.
A preview of the film.Oct. 8, 2018
I have to remind myself of these things whenever I hear an artist like Paul Butterfield, the blues singer and harmonica player who was prominent in the ’60s and ’70s. He died in 1987 at 44 of an accidental overdose. As one of the interview subjects in “Horn From the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story” puts it, just three notes from Butterfield’s harp were enough to establish a groove, or vastly improve an existing one.
John Anderson, who directs this documentary, does a brisk job of explaining the milieu in which Butterfield learned his craft. As a youngster in Chicago he took classical flute lessons but was drawn to the city’s blues clubs. Butterfield answered the question, “Can a white man play the blues?” not just with his own excellence but with his dedication to racial equality as a bandleader. “I’m not bragging but I didn’t see nobody else who was better,” says Sam Lay, one of the earliest African-American drummers for the first Butterfield Blues Band. “And we happened to be black and white.”
In terms of production values, this is not a snazzy film. But the interview footage with family and colleagues, including Bonnie Raitt and Elvin Bishop, an early Butterfield guitarist, is smart and thorough. While the last third of Butterfield’s life is tragic, spending the better part of 90 minutes with the man and his music is exhilarating. The picture may get at least a few people talking about him again.
Horn From the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes.
 
 

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