Project Narrative:
Uncle Jessie White -
Portrait of a Delta Bluesman in Detroit tells the story of the late blues musician Jessie
White - the story of a humble but charismatic musician who was born on a
sharecropper farm in Terry, Mississippi in 1920. He began to play the blues at
a young age, moved to Jackson Mississippi in 1939 to work in illegal whiskey
and gambling houses. He eventually joined the great northern migration and in
1950 settled in Detroit. There he raised a family and established himself as a
wildly popular and respected blues piano player. His kindness, humor and
generosity touched anyone who came in contact with him. Out of fondness and
respect, he became known as Uncle Jessie.
Interwoven into this narrative are testimonials of musicians and blues
experts who tell of his historical precedents and the impact that he has had on
several generations of Detroit musicians.
Uncle Jessie White -
Portrait of a Delta Bluesman in Detroit spans a long period from the Great Depression to the 21st
century. As a teenager Jessie White played blues guitar and harmonica in rural
juke joints. When he was very young he saw the legendary Robert Johnson play
guitar in Terri and participated in jam sessions at Muddy Water’s house. He was familiar with his musical
contemporaries in the Delta – John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Son House, Johnny
Jones and Elmore James among others. At
the age of 19 he moved to Jackson Mississippi and put his music aside to work
in a gambling house and to run whiskey with his brother-in-law.
Leaving
the Jim Crow South in 1950, Uncle Jessie moved to Detroit where he introduced
his rollicking brand of “authentic” Delta blues. His reputation grew and, following a southern
tradition of house parties, he opened his house to all night blues jams. These
legendary weekend sessions on 29th Street in Detroit lasted from the mid 60s to
the late 70’s - an era of racial conflict in Detroit when riots and police and
national guard actions created an environment of tension and crisis. Musicians who
worked as assembly line workers during the week would come from miles around in
order to play at his house. Many were, like Jessie, from the South. Blues
luminaries, such as John Lee Hooker, Albert King, the Butler Twins, Eddie
Burns, Harmonica Shah, and Johnnie Basset Jr., would drop by. Diverse crowds of black and white musicians
would play at these jam sessions all weekend long, demonstrating the bond that
was created by the music they played and danced to – risking their own safety
by traveling through riot ridden neighborhoods.
By the early 80s the musical scene shifted and many of these musicians
began to play at the Attic Bar in nearby Hamtramck.
The
Attic Bar was for many years the place to go for blues music. Beginning in the
1980s Jessie White was a frequent performer there. The ad hoc group of musicians that played
with him became the house band and eventually called themselves the 29th Street
Blues Band. This scene lasted until well into the late 1990s. At the Attic a
whole new generation of audience and musicians came to know Uncle Jessie and
his music.
Uncle Jessie’s reputation grew and he was in great demand at
regional blues clubs such as the Soup Kitchen and many local festivals. He recorded a CD for Blues Factory Records
and he was invited to blues festivals in Ann Arbor, Battle Creek and Dresden,
Germany. He participated in education programs in Detroit schools and libraries
where he played and talked about his life and music. On a trip back to
Mississippi he recounts stories of his youth.
Uncle Jessie has passed and so have some of the musicians
interviewed in this documentary. We do
have access to the musicians that are still alive, as well as other Detroit
Blues musicians and the Detroit Blues Society historical information, as well
as historical information from the many photographic archives of Wayne State
University and the Walter Reuther Library.
Interviews, verité footage, shots of musical
performances, archival photographs and movie clips as well as short expository
animations creatively reconstruct aspects of Jessie’s White’s life and place it
into a historical context. Musicians, blues scholars and experts as well as
friends give their perspectives on the significance of his authentic Southern
rural blues and the way he kept that music alive in Detroit. Others tell how he
was instrumental in spreading the joy of blues music not only in nightclubs but
also by participating in community outreach in such programs as the Blues in
the Schools program and by playing in libraries throughout the Detroit area.
Interviews with Uncle Jessie and footage of him
playing in clubs, festivals and libraries form the basic elements of the film.
The film also contains scenes of verité footage from several road trips – one a
return to the Delta to revisit places of his youth and another a trip to a
blues festival in Dresden, Germany.
This film is an account of how the
culture of Detroit’s music has been an agent of integration and
redemption. As Detroit now rebuilds
itself it is important to look back and see that there were individuals who
kept the spirit of music alive. As time goes on it is easy to forget the
stories of people who decided to stay and live in Detroit during the trying
times of the recent past. In a way, this
film offers an alternative narrative to the plethora of disaster stories about
Detroit that appear in the media and in popular culture. It is a commemoration
and celebration of culture, diversity, inclusion and the particular brand of
music that Uncle Jessie brought to Detroit. In a time when racial tensions
continue to make the news it is important to tell the stories of individuals,
whose creative endeavors, worked in some ways to overcome the divides that keep
people apart.
This film is also the record of the life of an
African American man whose life was affected by the many social changes in the
20th century: the difficult lives of rural blacks in the Jim Crow
South; Prohibition; World War II and subsequent shifts in labor patterns; the
great migration of African Americans from the South to the North; the
prosperity and opportunities of the 1950s; the civil rights movement of the
1960s and the subsequent social and economic collapse of Detroit resulting
white flight.
The story that emerges against this backdrop is one
of a musician whose craft united others in difficult times. It is an allegory of how music can offer a
way to bridge cultural and racial divides even in the most seemingly dire
times. Uncle Jessie’s kindness and
mentoring gave both black and white musicians in the inner city an outlet to
play together. Despite the odds he
helped to create an audience and community centered on their love of authentic
Delta Blues music.
The film, in part, asks questions: What role does
culture play in the fabric of society? Can it help repair that fabric in
stressful times? How can one individual affect a community that has been
ravaged by socioeconomic devastation? What does it mean to maintain one’s
humanity amidst such depredations? How important is it to preserve the stories
and memoires of an individual who affected the lives of so many people? Can Uncle Jessie’s story be applied to racial
strife and incidences happening today – such as in Missouri, Florida, Texas,
Oklahoma, Detroit – all over the country?
Uncle
Jessie’s story is one of the many unnoted chapters in Detroit’s post-war
period. It was a period of great loss and decline – but also a period of hope
and perseverance. It is a story that
counteracts the apocalyptic narratives that have been applied to Detroit.
This
film has the potential to generate discussion by delving deeply into the narrative
of how culture, in this case music, perseveres in the harshest of environments
and how it can offer a lifeline of hope for the future. Along with Jessie White many of the people
featured in this film are active musicians who are dedicated to their craft and
who have spent time in area libraries and schools telling their stories and the
role Jessie White has played in their lives.
This
webdoc allows the user to experience the music and life of Uncle Jessie White
and other Detroit blues players. The interface
affords access to the in depth interviews of people who appear in the film,
full performances of Jessie White’s concerts and other archival records
material not included in the stand-alone version. It also has links to the migration of workers
from the Mississippi Delta to the North to find work. Links will take the user to the history of
Detroit and racial segregation, civil rights, arts and culture. The history of these workers in the
automotive industry will also be explored through links.
The interactive web site is also designed to
incorporate the user's input. If they
should desire to do so they will be able to upload photos videos and written
input that will enhance and add to the story and legacy of Jessie White. This
way the project becomes an open and dynamic work. It is an archive data base as
well as a "movie." The goal is
put the story of Jessie White into the larger context of African American
history and one of its unique cultural contributions – blues music and its
impact on building cultural and racial bridges.
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