Product Description

Winner of...
The American Film Festival- Blue Ribbon
The American Film & Video Festival- Red Ribbon
A Special Interest Video Award (SIVA) Finalist

This award-winning concert film portrays the life of a legendary singer/songwriter, known for her independent spirit and often naughty lyrics. After achieving success for over 40 years with starring roles on Broadway, international tours, and more than a dozen hits, including Downhearted Blues, which became Bessie Smith's biggest hit…Alberta left show business at age 62 to become a nurse.

Twenty years later, at age 82 (the hospital thought she was 70), she was forced to retire. Still full of energy, she returned to singing and made a critically acclaimed comeback, one that made her even more popular. Live from The Cookery in New York, her voice full and rich, hands gesturing and winking at the audience, Hunter proves to be a consummate showwoman to the end.

Alberta opened her personal archives to Producer/Director Stuart Goldman and shared materials never seen before, as well as her last filmed interview prior to her death in 1984 at age 89. In addition to her own provocative and witty performances, this film, narrated by Billy Taylor, features the music of her friends and colleagues Louis Armstrong, Eubie Blake, Bessie Smith, and Fats Waller.

SELECTIONS
My Castle's Rockin
Two-Fisted Double-Jointed Rough and Ready Man
Darktown Strutters Ball
Downhearted Blues
I've Got a Mind to Ramble
Black Shadows

I'm Havin' a Good Time
Handy Man
You're Welcome to Come Home
The Love I Have For You

DVD BONUS FEATURES:
Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Digitally Mastered Audio & Video
Multi-Directional Interactive Menus
Over 20 Scene Selections
Instant Access to Songs
Narration by Billy Taylor
Alberta Hunter Biography
Four Bonus Audio Tracks

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56859 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-10-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 57 minutes

Amazon.com
This engaging documentary captures the legendary blues vocalist and Broadway and film star Alberta Hunter (1895-1984) with a small combo at The Cookery in New York's Greenwich Village in the early 1980s. This performance was taped during her "comeback," which she launched at 82 after her 20-year retirement from show business to become a registered nurse. Hunter's urbane, no-nonsense, and quick-as-a-wit stage demeanor is full of down-home double entendre. She revisits many of her classic jazz standbys, including "Darktown Strutters Ball," the naughty "Handy Man," and the bouncy title track. Narrated by jazz pianist/educator Billy Taylor, My Castle's Rockin' also features interview clips and archival photographs detailing Hunter's childhood in Memphis and Chicago, the Harlem Renaissance, Paul Robeson, and her work overseas. Alberta Hunter is proof positive that good jazz, like fine wine, gets better with age. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Martin Levin, Associated Press- Oct. 27, 1992
…an exhilarating jazz documentary …she punches over lively numbers with a voice that is full, rich and provocative. It’s Enchanting.

L.F., The Los Angeles Times- Sept. 20, 1992
**** Hunter’s interpretations reveal that her personality remained undimmed by time…a priceless documentary

Customer Reviews

Award Winning Performance Documentary!
This award-winning performance documentary, which includes a full-length concert from The Cookery in Greenwich Village, tells the story of a legendary singer/songwriter who retired at 62 and made a comeback at 82. The Los Angeles Times called it "an exhilarating, moving portrait of an extraordinary woman."

#1331 (60 min, Hi-Fi Stereo)

What A Great Voice
Alberta Hunter is a Great Talent.She is in Command Here.You Feel The Pressence of Her Voice&The Feelings She Puts into it Have So Much Depth.

It won awards? Glad to hear that.
Since I wrote script Billy Taylor reads in this documentary (which, by the way, is a documentary and not, as stated above, a concert film) I am delighted to see that it won awards! Odd that I had to find that out here, isn't it? Anyway, Alberta was a wonderful person who led a fascinating life and had a long career. One hour was really not enough to say all there was to say, but I hope the documentary is a good summation. It is sad that Alberta did not live to see the end result. She passed away as we were producing it.