Jazz Icons series
Studio: Reelin’ in the Years Productions/TDK DVWW-JICOB
Video: 1.33:1, B&W
Audio: Dolby Digital mono, English
All region
Extras: 16-page booklet with liner notes/rare photos/memorabilia collage
Length: 56 minutes
Rating: ****
This is the first disc from a set of nine DVDs starting off a series of vintage concerts by American jazzmen captured on international TV around the world during the 1950s thru the 1970s. There are full-length concerts and studio performances by some of the greatest legends of the jazz world, and none of these have been released on home video before. In some cases the material was never even broadcast. Quincy Jones, who is one of the artists represented in the series, says of it: “From an educational standpoint this series is a gift to our culture.” The first set includes Louis Armstrong, Art Blakey, Quincy Jones, Thelonious Monk, Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald
and Count Basie: The band, at the height of their achievement, was touring Scandinavia and taped a one-hour concert for Swedish TV in l962. Just black and white, the camerawork is clear and not intrusive and the mono sound is excellent, conveying the power and impact of this terrifically-swinging 18-piece aggregation. The important members of the band at this time seen in the video include Marshal Royal, guitarist Freddie Green, Quentin Butter Jackson, flutist Frank Wess and drummer Sonny Payne. (It would have been nice if a little title identifying them came on the screen when the different soloists step up to the mike.) I also wish the producers had used plain old PCM mono for higher-res audio instead of lossy Dolby Digital – which also requires a payment to Dolby. This is the earliest known complete concert by the Basie Band to be issued on a DVD. It’s a must-have for any Basie fan!
Tracklist: Easin’ It, You Are Too Beautiful, Corner Pocket, Stella By Starlight, Back to the Apple, I Needs to be Bee’d With, I Got Rhythm, Back Water Blues, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Old Man River, One O’Clock Jump
– John Henry
