MODERN JAZZ QUARTET 35th Anniversary Tour 1987 DVD ALL on eBay (end time 01-Jan-10 02:23:31 GMT)

Last updated on 16:55:23 GMT, 12 Dec, 2009 View all revisions

Item specifics - DVDs

Format:	DVD	Display Format:	Full Screen
Leading Role:	John Lewis	Rating:	NR
Release Date:	15 Nov 2005	Genre:	Concert & Music
UPC:	824121001360	Genre 2:	Jazz/Blues
Region:	ALL REGION	Condition:	New

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Detailed item info

Movie description
Taped live at the Arts Festival in Freiburg, Germany, this concert marks the 35th anniversary of this great jazz combo.
Credits
Cast:	John Lewis

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TDK JMJQ035 DVD

An hour with the long-running chamber jazz quartet, in DTS surround

The Modern Jazz Quartet - 35th Anniversary Tour (1987)

John Lewis, p.; Milt Jackson, vibes; Percy Heath, bass; Connie Kay, dr.
Studio: TDK/EuroArts (Distr. by Naxos)
Video: 4:3 full screen color, all region coding
Audio: DTS 5.1; DD 5.1, PCM stereo
Length: 57 minutes

Please take into account that the MJQ has been probably my favorite jazz group all my life when I say this is the most enjoyable jazz concert on DVD I have ever seen. It was expertly taped during a music festival in Freiburg Germany in l987 and memorializes the world’s longest-running jazz combo in great form. They were together for so long that some of us thought they would always be around; yet sadly all four of them have now passed on.

John Lewis was the leader of the MJQ and composed most of the music. He made no bones about strongly appreciating European classical music and especially Bach, and his music is full of classical forms such as fugues. The MJQ epitomized the “chamber jazz” style, and not only in their sound. Lewis insisted from the start that they wear tuxedos and carry themselves onstage as if they were a string quartet. This was criticized by some jazz aficionados but raised the MJQ in the minds of most audiences and got their more serious listening attention. In the 50s and 60s they were right up there with the Dave Brubeck Quartet in popularity.

The camera focuses frequently on Lewis’ right hand work. We see the precise and controlled single-line improvisations he spins out in the upper registers of the piano. The phrase a fan observed about Milt Jackson: “If he ever did once play a non-swinging note, it must have been in private” can certainly apply as well to his bandmate Lewis. We also see the eye contact between Lewis and Jackson at various points in the music. There are many sheets of music manuscript on the piano in front of Lewis for pieces such as the concluding Dubrovnik Suite. There are also a couple of flies plaguing him and walking on the manuscripts like moving whole notes. Ah, the challenges of live performance! There is also a humorous translation problem (or maybe just a hearing problem) on one of the tunes: although correct in the provided note booklet and on the back of the box, the next-to-last tune is identified onscreen with the superimposed title “Backgroove” (Bags’ Groove). Speaking of Bags, it’s great to see him in action, hitting every note with the same precision and care as Lewis does on the piano. His valued contribution to the group is the singing, flowing sound he achieves on the vibes. Ellington’s Rockin’ in Rhythm gets the concert off to a swinging start with a tune probably familiar to most of the audience. The 1987 version of Lewis’ big hit Django is quite different and more exploratory from the many versions I have in my collection. (In fact I once put together a mix tape of 90 minutes of different treatments of Django.) I realized perhaps for the first time that the piece has almost none of the gypsy jazz sound of its dedicatee’s music - it is more of a blues elegy or threnody.

The DTS 5.1 surround is excellent and the spatial origin of the sounds seems to be more in accord with the onscreen images than with many music videos - the vibes toward the right channel and the piano toward the left. The PCM stereo option is also very transparent and may be preferred by some users, either with or without Pro Logic II processing.

Tracks: Rockin’ in Rhythm, Echoes, Kansas City Breaks, Django, Summertime, Bags’ Groove, A Day in Dubrovnik.

NEW & SEALED.

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