Kozmic Blues

This concert documents the second of Janis Joplin's three working groups. The Kozmic Blues Band were modelled on Otis Redding's Stax-Volt R&B sound with arrangements that were designed to showcase her magnificent voice. Her greatest numbers, Summertime, Try (Just A Little Bit Harder), Ball And Chain, Piece Of My Heart are all present and the performances clearly demonstrate that like her heroines Bessie Smith and Mahalia Jackson, Joplin had a very rare gift. Performed in Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 1st 1969 and broadcast on VPRO radio. Janis Joplin - vocals; Sam Andrew - guitar; Brad Campbell - bass; Richard Kermode - organ; Terry Hensley - trumpet; Terry Clements - tenor sax; Roy Markowitz - drums; Cornelius 'Snooky' Flowers - baritone sax.

I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is the debut solo and third studio album overall by American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the only solo album released during her lifetime. Recording began on June 16, 1969 in New York City and ceased on June 26. For the album, Joplin recruited guitarist Sam Andrew of the Holding Company to take part in development, along with the Kozmic Blues Band. Joplin installed a brass and horn section into the tracks, a feature her previous band would not allow. It was a total contrast to Joplin's previous psychedelic rock as the compositions chosen were more soul and blues driven. All but two tracks were cover versions that producer Gabriel Mekler and Joplin chose. The other two tracks, "One Good Man" and "Kozmic Blues", were written by Joplin herself.

The greatest white female rock singer of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making her material her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery. First rising to stardom as the frontwoman for San Francisco psychedelic band Big Brother & the Holding Company, she left the group in the late '60s for a brief and uneven (though commercially successful) career as a solo artist. Although she wasn't always supplied with the best material or most sympathetic musicians, her best recordings, with both Big Brother and on her own, are some of the most exciting performances of her era. She also did much to redefine the role of women in rock with her assertive, sexually forthright persona and raunchy, electrifying on-stage presence.

Video-anthology of Janis Joplin. This DVD include fragments from some performances in the different periods of her short and rebellious life…

"I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!" was Joplin's first solo record after breaking off from her former group Big Brother and the Holding Company. The record features hits "Kozmic Blues", "Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)", and "To Love Somebody".

Maggie Mackenthun (Vocal, harmonica, flute): Is 3 years old when her Scottish father dies. After a quarrel with her German mother, the 16-year-old Maggie orders a taxi and leaves Duesseldorf, where she grew up. She dances with street music through half of Europe, plays classical crossfloete, saxophone, drums and sings. At 19, she buys an old Hanomag bus, where she lives and rocks with various bands, including "Moonrose". There are several vinyl discs, which are also nationwide attention. Pregnant shortly thereafter, it will be quiet for 15 years to Maggie. Only occasionally does she sing at festivals such as Rock am Ring and the Loreley. In 1994 she was engaged as a singer by the WDR in Koeln for a Led-Zeppelin project, where she met the drummer Gerhard Sagemueller.

As well as being one of the finest rock singers of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making her material her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery. First rising to stardom as the frontwoman for San Francisco psychedelic band Big Brother & the Holding Company, she left the group in the late '60s for a brief and uneven (though commercially successful) career as a solo artist. Although she wasn't always supplied with the best material or most sympathetic musicians, her best recordings, with both Big Brother and on her own, are some of the most exciting performances of the era.