“In the fifties, that powerful melancholy force, that Afro-American art form called the blues began to develop into Rhythm and Blues. At first we were stepchildren, but we blew all those other pop artists out of the water. Rhythm and Blues became known as Rock and Roll and, of course, it’s the folk music of the entire world.” - Johnny Otis


 
Johnny Otis, with the West Oakland HouseRockers, circa 1939


EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART - the documentary currently in post-production - is a personal and musical biography of Johnny Otis, the musician, bandleader, producer and songwriter who is often called the Godfather of Rhythm & Blues. But it is more than the biography of one man, just as the story of R&B is about much more than music. Johnny's odyssey through the world of African-American music in the 20th Century is a window into arenas of race and culture that have defined and transformed contemporary America - and, in turn, have touched the whole world. 

Johnny Otis' perspective on music and race in America is unique. A leading figure in the evolution of post-WWII black music, Johnny's skin is white. Born John Veliotis, the son of Greek immigrants, he grew up above his father's small grocery store in the heart of Berkeley California's African-American community.

"From Day 1 my environment and my playmates were black. I didn't make a division and I didn't realize that America would try to divide us. To me it was the preferred culture that I've never strayed from."   

Johnny's childhood identity took on an added dimension as he entered the world of jazz and blues, playing in and leading black bands. Immersed in black music, he became known for his own hit recordings (Harlem Nocturne, Willie and the Hand Jive), songwriting (Every Beat of My Heart) - and for discovering such greats of the Rhythm and Blues era as Etta James, Esther Phillips, Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John and Big Mama Thornton (with whom he produced the original Hound Dog."

Often called the Godfather of Rhythm and Blues, Johnny began his musical career in an Oakland blues band. By the mid-forties he had one of the top big bands on Central Avenue, L.A.’s jazz mecca and cut the classic Harlem Nocturne. His bands toured the country from the Fillmore to the Apollo to the Deep South. By the late forties, along with other pioneers of early Rhythm & Blues, he led a  movement to break down the increasingly costly big bands into smaller combos, evolving a more blues-based sound. His Barrel House Club in L.A. became the first venue dedicated exclusively to the emerging Rhythm and Blues style - a blend of electric guitars, honking sax, harder rhythms and singers who brought a gospel feel to secular music.  These sounds, steeped in black traditions, were the roots of a global revolution in popular music, eventually giving birth to Rock & Roll and Soul Music.

Johnny Otis has always been a complex and articulate character -  provocative, profane, funny, wise and even outrageous - like the best of R&B. Johnny's story centers on the paradox that lies at the heart of R&B. The music has a universal appeal that transcended race, yet the reality of race in America is fundamental to its history and legacy. The music that America claims as it's own was created in the midst of ferocious social rejection. A major chapter in this drama was the daily life of a touring band in the era of segregation , as musicians traveled by bus from the “chitlin’ circuit" to elegant urban venues.

"Our bus pulled up to get gas somewhere in Mississippi and Little Esther, who was no more than 15, got off to go to the bathroom and a white guy comes up and puts a gun in my belly and screams, Get that black b-i-t-c-h out of the white lady's room… And these things occurred with regularity. I had to ask myself, good Lord, what did black people ever do to be despised so…?""

Through those years Johnny created a “cartoon gazette” for his band - sketches  that evoke life on the road – the friendships and rivalries, the humor,  the ever-present bigotry, and the ironies of white America’s ultimate embrace of black music. Those cartoons became the foundation for a lifelong foray into the visual arts - painting, sculpture and satirical drawings done with the improvisation, wit and pathos of jazz and blues.

These powerful images - many of which were published in his visual art book, "Colors and Chords" - are a surrealistic counterpoint to Johnny’s anecdotes and provide deeper insight into his experience and his view of American life Visual sequences in the film are also drawn from Johnny's extensive personal collection of vintage photos. And musical performances are interwoven as a rhythmic and emotional element of the story. Early greats with whom Johnny has recorded - including Charles Brown, Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, and protégé's Esther Phillips and Etta James - will appear in archival and performance footage ("soundies" from the 40s, Rock and Roll and R&B shows from the fifties, a vintage "Barrelhouse Reunion" at the height of the “blues revival” of the 1960s, and his legendary revue performing  at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

To tell Johnny's story, the documentary moves back and forth between past and present. We follow Johnny as he broadcasted weekly on Berkeley's KPFA - freeform live radio and talk, featuring the best of classic jazz, R&B and soul music. We join his college class, as Johnny holds forth in an East Bay dance club teaching the history of African American music. The lively, popular class featured members of his band and a wide range of guest artists.  Johnny also continued an active recording schedule at his rural Sebastopol studio, in addition to being an avid painter, organic farmer, cook, cartoonist, author, bird breeder and fisherman. We hear from folks who've known and worked with Johnny throughout the years - family and old friends, including such legendary figures as Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto. And we'll see his band at more recent gigs, including their headlining the San Francisco Blues Festival.

Through the years Johnny's been a bandleader, singer, songwriter, producer, percussionist,  painter, sculptor - as well as a preacher and a political activist - but his passion remained African-American music in all of its magnificent variety. This passion and the journey on which it has taken Johnny are at the center of “Every Beat of My Heart”- from the Swing Era, to R&B and the rise of Rock and Soul - more than half a century of music reflected through the prism of a singular life. The characters are colorful, but the most compelling element in the film is the music itself. It is not a soundtrack but an intrinsic part of the storytelling – a moving voice that stirred the soul of Johnny Veliotis, a Greek-American youth, seven decades ago, much as it has touched successive generations over the years and throughout the world