Thursday, December 2, 1999

The Dish
Micheal Flemming

Blues Tale: Veteran record producer Spencer Proffer, who produced the CBS mini "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and got top music talent to record songs for the soundtrack, _~ is going the same route with the Tony nominated Broadway musical "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues," which recentIy opened at the Geffen Playhouse.

Proffer was brought in as a producer of the musical earlier in the year by Proffer lead producer Eric Krebs, and recorded three perfs for the soundtrack before the show left Lincoln Center. Then he began touring the country and getting blues giants to supplement the numbers in a show about the evolution of blues. He's so far recorded B.B. King doing "Hoochie Coochie Man," and has gotten tracks from guitarist Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, and got Andrae Crouch and his choir to bolster a gospel number. A CD will also include narrative from Whoopi Goldberg and Taj Mahal, and when the show goes on tour around the country, the producers are talking with the likes of King to make guest appearances. The album will be released through Proffer's Morling Manor Media and MCA, with MCA's Randy Jackson exec producing. Proffer's now producing one of MTV's first originals for the network, "Jailbait," and is rounding up musical talent to take part in that one as well.