Dianne Reeves: Live In Montreal (2000)

by | May 21, 2005 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews | 0 comments

Dianne Reeves: Live In Montreal (2000)

Dianne Reeves, vocals with Otmaro Ruiz, keyboards,
Reginald Veal, bass, Roscoe Bryant, Drums and
Munyungo Jackson, Percussion
Studio: Image Entertainment
Video: 1.33:1 fullscreen, color
Audio: DD 5.1 surround, DTS 5.1 surround, 2.0 stereo
Extras: Video interview
Length: 111 minutes
Rating: **

Dianne Reeves has developed quite a bit of notoriety over the years for
her offbeat takes on jazz standards and her jazzification of many songs
from other genres; this DVD video of her performance at the 2000
Montreal Jazz Festival documents her musical journey down the road less
traveled. The Overture starts out in a distinctly Afro-Cuban direction,
and much of the music follows that bent throughout. My personal
highlight was the only piece that really came even close to resembling
an actual standard, the bass and vocals only take on Duke Ellington’s
Mood Indigo – bassist Reginald Veal is just superb here. If only that
truly inspired moment were more typical of what is offered here!

Unfortunately, the disc is somewhat lacking, both in sound and video
quality. The vocals have a rather disembodied quality to them, and seem
to float about the soundstage, regardless of which audio track you
choose. I’ve encountered similar problems on other music video dvds,
but choosing the stereo or PCM track usually solves the problem. No
luck here – the stereo track is just as bad, and no wonder the others
suffer as they do. The video quality seems very dated – the colors are
much too saturated, and Dianne Reeves seems almost superimposed on the
background – I don’t think this was their intention. Overall, and
unless you’re a really big fan, I’d pass on this one, or maybe check it
out as a rental.

Tracks: Overture; Morning Has Broken; Afro Blue; Mood Indigo;
Yesterday; Summertime; Nine; In Your Eyes; River; Testify; Endangered
Species; Mista; Love for Sale.

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