laviolet 20th May 2016 | | DVDThe Big Beat: Fats Domino And The Birth Of Rock N' Roll - Shanachie (2016) | Rated 10/10Fats Domino's contributions to the birth of rock and roll have been long underrated. A reclusive personality, Domino seldom gave interviews and preferred to let his music speak for itself. Fortunately, we now have Joe Lauro's documentary and Rick Coleman's biography to document the life and career of this seminal artist. We get most of the usual biographical trappings: Fats' early life and influences, television and movie clips, interviews with friends and collaborators, but no face-to-face interview with Domino himself. That gap is mostly filled by audio excerpts from interviews with Coleman done for the book, although the lack of captions and Domino's thick Creole accent often make him difficult to understand. The musical highlights come from a recently discovered 44-minute film of Domino's performance at the 1962 Festival de Jazz d'Antibes, which includes solos from Dave Bartholomew and most of the band. The disc includes the 87-minute director's cut, the edited version broadcast on US PBS, and clips from the French film as extras. Not only highly recommended, but essential. By the way, this disc was released the same day as the premiere broadcast on Domino's 88th birthday.
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