The Blues Brothers Band

So here’s the complete Blues Brothers band. From left to right, along the top row, then the bottom, we have:

• Willie “Too Big” Hall, drums
• Donald “Duck, Dunn, bass
• “Joliet” Jake Blues, vocals
• Steve “The Colonel” Cropper, guitar
• “Blue Lou” Marini, sax
• Alan “Mr. fabulous” Rubin, trumpet
• Matt “Guitar” Murphy, guitar
• Elwood Blues, vocals/harmonica
• Tom “Bones” Malone, trombone
• Murphy Dunne, keyboards

I think the set works well together and is better than the sum of the parts. As I keep saying, the eight portraits other than the two brothers make for challenging viewing because of the complicated acted shapes in them. I like that. Not just because I like a challenge but also because it forces the viewer to pay them some attention rather than just focusing on Jake and Elwood.

As for the individual portraits, now that I can see all ten together, my favourites are Donald, Blue Lou and Tom. Elwood and Matt are my least favourite and Matt is the only one out of the ten that doesn’t seem to pack a personality punch. Actually, now that I mention it, none of the eight support members of the band shows off that much personality in the film: I think I’ve brought out more personality than than the director, John Landis, did and that makes me feel proud.

The set is up for sale and would be presented in two frames, each with five portraits in a row, matching the two rows in the photo that accompanies this post.