E-Mail This Article to a Friend LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE

Martin Scorsese atones for his largely miserable 2003 PBS-TV series The Blues with this concert film directed by Antoine Fuqua and shot at Radio City Music Hall in February of last year. Scorsese organized the show as a living history of the blues; moving through the decades and the subgenres, it culminates with performances by Buddy Guy, Solomon Burke, and B.B. King. Fuqua mostly puts us on stage or backstage with the artists, which is where we want to be when Mavis Staples, Honeyboy Edwards, Keb’ Mo’ (standing in for Robert Johnson), Guy, Ruth Brown, the Neville Brothers, Gatemouth Brown and other stars are working in top form or reminiscing about their careers. Obscure ragtime guitarist Larry Johnson finally gets his due, playing a sharp solo version of "Where’d You Get That Sound?" The turns from crossover musicians would seem perfunctory (those from Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler indeed do) if it weren’t for Macy Gray’s delightfully cranked-up "Hound Dog." Occasionally, the camera angles conjure their own magic: in one beautiful shot, Buddy Guy’s fingers seem to tug solar flares from the strings of his acoustic guitar. But with excellent sound and a house-band line-up that includes Dr. John and the Band’s Levon Helm, it’s the performances that generate Lightning’s heat and light. (106 minutes)