Deep Sea Blues

Filmmaker Robert Mugge has been making music documentaries for nigh on 30 years. Deep Sea Blues (not to be confused with his influential Deep Blues, a 1991 collaboration with critic Robert Palmer) is an amiable if not especially substantial chronicle of the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, aka “the Woodstock of the Waves,” a twice-yearly voyage for blues lovers who also fancy traveling aboard gigantic ships to Mexico and the Caribbean (the documentary spotlights a 2007 trip to Grand Turk, St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Barts, and other fabulous locales). Of the 19 acts featured here, some will be familiar to aficionados (Taj Mahal, Kim Wilson and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tab Benoit, Buckwheat Zydeco, and George “Commander Cody” Frayne), others considerably less so (Joey Gilmore, Tasha Taylor, and Watermelon Slim). The cruise is very fan-friendly; aside from performing in various venues on board (sometimes on shore, too), the musicians mingle with the passengers at autograph sessions, workshops, lectures, and theme parties, while pretty much anyone who can play is encouraged to jam. Add to that the crystalline waters of some of the world's loveliest islands, and it's no surprise that an exceedingly good time was obviously had by all. Although it ends up being little more than a free advertisement for the Blues Cruise, there's enough entertainment here to make this a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (S. Graham)