Customer Reviews

Carlos Santana Presents Blues at Montreux 2004: Buddy Guy, Clarence Gatemouth Brown

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Carlos Santana , who has infused his music with the blues for the past four decades ( remember , his band was originally called the Santana Blues Band ), pulls one off here . He brings Buddy Guy ,( who it is said was doing Hendrix before Hendrix ..... and was told by the Chess Bros. that sound would never make it ) Gatemouth Brown ( a true American musical giant) and Bobby Parker ( an incredible yet seemingly unknown guitarist , except among blues fanatics ) together in one venue for an unbelievable night of blues guitar fireworks . Well shot , great sound , and an incredible guest vocal along the way by Barbara Morrison make this set the steal of the year .

The difference between the reviewers loping off a star and those giving this DVD a five-star is obvious - the lopers are people that don't play! This DVD (three actually) is an excellent production in sound and video quality as well as performance. The supporting bands are excellent as well. Hey, we're all aging, even you three and four star critics. It is indeed rare to get blues and jazz from these masters in the first place, and all the live performances will preserve our blues and jazz heritage. If you love the blues and jazz, this DVD is pure and simply excellent.

Wow, I was completely blown away by the first DVD featuring a performance by Bobby Parker. Bobby is a journeyman blues guitarist dating way back to the late 50's / early 60's, travelling all over performing shows to whoever appreciated the blues. With only a hand full of hits and albums released during his career, Bobby lights it up on this DVD like a man whose still plays with the energy of when he was just starting out. Man, is his show red hot, and I gotta tell you it's nice that Santana comes out and jams with him for the last few songs, but even Santana stops playing just to hear his childhood hero keep playing. Amazing set.

The other 2 DVD's are great, especially Gatemoth Brown. The man is old, but he his playing is fluid, simplistic, and bone cutting. While I wished he played more guitar than fiddle (which he is a killer fiddler), he lets his sax man carry on through much of his set. The jam with Santana at the end is a highlight as Buddy Guy even comes out to try Santana's guitar.

Lastly is Buddy Guy. Buddy Guy is a legend, and the most well known of the 3 blues masters appearing this night. He's a household name. He starts out acoustically for 3 songs which are unbelievable. Unfortunately, since Buddy Guy is well known, watching and listening to Buddy Guy I feel like he is the Jimmy Buffet of the blues. I mean that when he's on full on band mode, it's a party and everyone is invited to come on up and jam. And that's exactly what happens at the end of the show (minus Gatemouth). Santana, Buddy, Bobby Parker, Nile Rodgers, and Barbara Morrison just have a fun, flat out 30 minute jam at the end. While it's not as hot as it had the potential to be, it's not a dud by any means, in fact, once Buddy Guy leaves the stage, Bobby Parker takes over, and just lights it up like he did earlier.

If anyone appreciates deep Southern American blues, get this. For fans of Santana this is a no brainer to pick up.

If I hadn't received Blues At Montreux as a Kwanzaa gift, I might not have ever heard of it. The first thing I did upon receiving it was look it up on amazon and read the reviews. Then I took it home to watch and listen to all three DVDs in the package. The difference in my expectations after reading some of the less positive reviews and what I actually saw and heard is tremendous. There seems to be a lot of venom directed at this set because of Carlos Santana's involvement. And believe me, I too was a little concerned knowing the kind of schlock he has issued in recent years. But it also seems that many who attack this never even watched and listened!
In my eyes, Santana redeems himself a little here with this hat trick. He doesn't dominate the action, he merely participates on a couple of songs with each headliner and in my opinion even adds to them. So the focus should not be on Santana at all even though he "presents" this set, it should be on the principal performers, Buddy Guy, Gatemouth Brown, and Bobby Parker.
My favorite performances are actually in the order of the presentation of the discs. I did not know of Bobby Parker before but was spellbound by his electrifying performance. He played as if playing for a prize. His entire band is good but I note in particular the play of drummer Dion Clay and Dane Russel on harmonica. Parker's entire set is good, but a couple songs really stand out. Those are: Nothing But the Blues, Its Unfair, and Watch Your Step.
As for Gatemouth Brown, I expected a lot from him. I've seen him in concert at small clubs many times and he always put on a tremendous show. He is probably the most musically eclectic of the three featured artists and he shows some of that here. But the strongest part of this set just happens to be three of the songs (Drifter, Grape Jelly, and Okie Dokie Stomp) on which he shares the stage with Santana. Not only does he himself shine, he allows every member of his band to show what he can do. Particularly enjoyable is Eric Demmer on saxophone who at times looks so energized that one fears the big galoot is going to have a heart attack at any time. Those who haven't seen Gate play before should watch the unique way he strokes his guitar.
As for Buddy Guy, I've never been a huge fan, but I do recognize his many skills. Though I didn't care so much for the acoustic set, I really enjoy his covers of Hoochie Coochie Man and Stormy Monday.
So even though I am not ecstatic about every song on the DVDs, I still give it five stars because there is more than enough great music to make me satisfied that whoever buys this will get value for money. This is one I will be watching many times in the years to come.

Let me begin by saying that I was extremely excited and intrigued to see this CD collaboration from 2004. I bought it and watched it and thought someone should give this performance an honest review. First of all Santana plays as backing band member on many songs and simply softly plays rythms with the other band members. He has a few inspired solos which are wonderful and interesting but they seem to be few and far between.
The Old Heads are all accomplished and succesful leaders in their own right but I believe this CD to not be representative of their legendary status. Gatemouth Brown starts out first and plays a percussive quickly picked style that is difficult for Santana to jam with. The songs are his personal blues testimony but to me they all sound very much alike. There is even a point at the end of his set where he has his guitar set up wrong and is playing in the wrong key for like half the song before the bass player straightens him out. Bobby Parker is next and to me is the highlght of the CD. His style is more complimentary to Santanas and he has an all out approach to soloing which is fun to watch. Their set is the most entertaining of the three to me. However, Parker has the extremely naive habit of adjusting his tuning while he's playing and thinking its OK (its not-nuffsaid) and that discredits his professionalism in my opinion.
Lastly is Buddy Guy and he is a respected player with whom I am most familiar. I have heard some of his performances in the past and was struck by how soulful and beautiful he played. That is not the case here. He plays so softly in a clean tone that it is difficult to even hear him at all. Then when he hits his effects pedal its so loud that its just plain wrong. Also they bring up a female vocalist who spends a lot of the set doing her thing with Santana and Guy quietly strumming in the backgound. When they finally jam together in the climactic ending it doesn't chill or move me the way I thought it would.
So ultimately its worth checking out if your a fan of any of these musicians but don't expect too much -you may be disappointed....

I was at the guitar center in Lexington KY., and they had this dvd playing in the store, I was walking around feeling good, tapping my feet, and swaying to the music, not even realizing it,I'm a 56 year old white guy, finally I ask a clerk, who is that? He said Clarence Brown, I came straight home and ordered this c d, great stuff. All 3 players are great but Clarence is the man, and Carlos Santana jams with all 3 guy's! How cool is that! Thanks Shooter!

It came to me on time just like Amazon purchases do. I love the blues so the Buddy Guy disc was worth the money by itself, but the other two discs with Clarence Brown and Bobby Parker added to the fun. Then with Carlos Santana adding his guitar licks to all three disc was the icing on the cake. A must have for your blues collection!!

I saw Buddy at Montreux last summer, and he was just stunning. Clapton once called him "without a doubt, and by far, the world's greatest rock guitarist - ever", and that was one of the wisest things old Slowhand ever said. So you think, if he's that good, if it's true Hendrix used to kneel before him in the crowd trying to figure out his licks so he could copy him (and there's footage of him doing just that) how come he's not better known? Well, I'll tell you the terrible truth (apart from the fact that he's no songwriter): Buddy Guy's playing always sounds like a pale imitation on disc. Why this should be I don't know. It's not true of many others. The thing is, live, he makes just about every other guitar player sound sloppy and half-hearted. OK, there are exceptions, but this disc has a good example; Buddy jams with Santana, and Carlos plays as well as he ever has. But Buddy's licks are 10 times faster, 10 times more complex, and 10 times more muscular. You think I'm kidding, and sadly, watching this disc may not disabuse you, because you have to really put your ear deep in the headphone to hear it. The other thing about Buddy Guy is, he just keeps getting better. You can find footage of him in the 60s, and yes, he is superb. But just like the true blues man he is, he is only now getting well into his stride. So, in a nutshell, do buy this disc, because it's Mr. Guy at his best. And he truly is just untouchably breath-taking. But if you have a chance to catch him live, then sell your grandmother into slavery if necessary. He's getting old, he won't be around forever, and in the flesh he is quite simply THE best.

This is for the real Blues fan, a solid treat for the soul. Watching it gives me a tingling sensation, wow! It just blows my mind! Parker, Brown and Guy show their carisma and skill and are second to none. I was surprised they matched Santana note for note, or should I say Santana matched them note for note. I am 57 and have been a Blues fan all my life and this is certainly a huge treat for me. Even my 15 year old son digs it. A great buy, value for money. Roy

... And it was great fun. What pushed me to go and see that concert was the presence of Bobby Parker and Gatemouth's band, which I had heard to be a real treat (with Joe Krown on Keyboards!). I wasn't really eager to listen to some torrential solos from Carlos and Buddy Guy but at the end my expectations were satisfied: Parker was great, Gatemouth's band swung like crazy and Buddy Guy made a remarkable acoustic opening before stumblin' in his usual heavy-metal blues set. Nonetheless, Carlos wasn't much intruding others' own style and his performance, especially with Gatemouth and Buddy Guy was totally acceptable. Actually Carlos grew up as a Blues guitar player, just check Bloomfield/Kooper Live Adventures ...