DVD 'Muddy Waters Classic Concerts'

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Reelin' In The Years Productions and Hip-O Records announced the May 23, 2006 release of "Muddy Waters Classic Concerts" on DVD. Featuring three concerts (including the legendary 1960 Newport Jazz Festival) and spanning seventeen years, the DVD includes 23 songs for almost two hours of performances by Muddy Waters, the undisputed king of the blues. In 2003, Reelin' In The Years Productions began releasing the GRAMMY-nominated "The American Folk Blues Festival 1962 - 1969" DVD series, widely considered the greatest blues DVDs of all time. "Muddy Waters Classic Concerts" continues in that fine tradition, featuring truly amazing performances with great sound and video.

"Muddy Waters Classic Concerts" opens with Muddy's performance at the legendary 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, the concert that spawned Muddy Waters At Newport, one of the greatest live albums of all time. Now available for the first time featuring pristine stereo sound synched up from that classic album, the five songs in the nearly half-hour set are the finest example of Muddy Waters' greatness ever to be captured on film and include the definitive versions of "Got My Mojo Working, " "Rollin' Stone" and "Mean Mistreater".

The second classic concert is a rare, previously unseen, complete set from the 1968 Copenhagen Jazz Festival featuring Muddy's amazing late-sixties band including blues great Otis Spann on piano. This show, buried in the Danish vaults for 37 years, is one of the few complete Muddy Waters concerts to be captured on film from the 1960s. The entire band plays with both fire and finesse on blistering versions of "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man, " "Long Distance call" and "Tiger In Your Tank" plus five more songs.

The third concert on the DVD is a complete set from the 1977 Molde Jazz Festival in Norway. Filmed 35 years after his first recordings, Muddy and his top-notch band tear through such classics as "Baby Please Don't Go, " "Can't Get No Grindin', " "Prison-Bound Blues" and four more songs.

In addition to the three concerts, the DVD also includes a host of bonus features. From the Victoria Theatre in London is a performance of "The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock & Roll" shot in 1977. Also included are two filmed interviews from "Old Grey Whistle Test" (1972) and the Molde Jazz Festival (1977). The 16-page booklet includes a foreword by Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, and an insightful 5, 000-word essay by Bob Margolin, Muddy's lead-guitarist from 1973 to 1980. To commemorate this important release, Universal Music Group International will be releasing a special limited edition of the DVD including a reproduction of an original Muddy Waters concert poster from the 1950s.

Reelin' In The Years Productions is the largest music footage library in the world, housing over 10, 000 hours of performances from all genres of music covering the last 50 years. Most of the footage in their library has never been seen or heard by the world at large. Reelin' In The Years Productions' "The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1969" three volume DVD series has received critical acclaim, commercial success and numerous industry awards. "Volume One" was nominated for a GRAMMY award in the category of "Best Long Form Music Video" and "Volume One" and "Two" received The Blues Foundation's prestigious 2004 Keeping The Blues Alive (KBA) Award as well as Honorable Mention in Mojo Magazine's Honors List for best DVD of 2003. Other DVD releases include "Marvin Gaye -- The Real Thing In Performance 1964 - 1981" and the legendary concert film "Soul To Soul." Current DVD projects include "The Temptations -- Get Ready The Definitive Performances 1965 - 1972" and the first nine DVDs in the "Jazz Icons" series featuring classic concerts from the '50s and '60s from jazz legends including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. In addition, Reelin' In The Years Productions has provided footage for numerous DVDs including the platinum-selling "Led Zeppelin, " "AC/DC -- Family Jewels, " "The Police -- Synchronicity Concert, " and "Elvis Costello -- The Right Spectacle -- The Videos".

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