Friday, November 09, 2007

Al Jarreau and George Benson - Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland - July - 2007


Last July 12, 2007 at Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The music world was dazzled by a harmonic convergence of superstars when Singer/guitarist/songwriter George Benson teams with vocalist extraordinaire /songwriter Al Jarreau. Friends and label-mates for over three decades, this outing marks the first time that the two artists, both multiple GRAMMY® winners with Gold and Platinum selling albums.


Benson and Jarreau first met in the mid-1970s at the Coconut Grove Ballroom in the landmark Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Benson recalls, “Al sang lyrics to ‘Take Five’ which I’d never heard before. I’d recorded an instrumental version of the track on my album Bad Benson, so I was really checking this cat out. His style of improvising was quite interesting.” Of Benson, Jarreau adds, “George and I share something of the same age, but George can describe things he was doing as a professional at the age of 8! He was an idol within the jazz community, one that I aspired to, but I didn’t arrive on the scene with my first record until seventeen years later in 1975. George was a hero to me.” “He’s a prolific cat,” finishes the guitarist. “I’ve always loved Al, but I have a different respect for him now.”

Their music brought the concert into a different level of entertainment. Good old memories from two known jazz artists. You will enjoy watching these two giants performing at their best. Although this concert was advertise for both artists to perform together but unfortunately they only sang 1 song along with one another. The song is "Summer Breeze" The rest of the concert had individual performances from George and Al. Anyway, both exibited their best hit songs and the concert lasted for almost an hour.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

VOICES OF THE CONCORD JAZZ - Live at Montreux - Switzerland - 2004


The clean, tasteful, accessible, and swinging sound of Concord Records is well showcased on Voices of Concord Jazz, a collection of 20 live performances (both small group and big band) by seven of the California-based label's jazz singers. In truth, there's nothing earth-shattering to be found in these 105 minutes--no Sarahs, Billies, Mels, or Ellas are on hand (although Patti Austin certainly evokes Miss Fitzgerald in a set that includes "Mr. Paganini" and a tour de force "How High the Moon"). But while the Concord approach has usually been more about entertaining and engaging listeners than challenging them, this is decidedly not the pallid style commonly known as "smooth jazz"; indeed, the occasional Vegas-isms of singers like Peter Cincotti (virtually a younger Harry Connick Jr.) and Curtis Stigers are more than balanced by their instrumental prowess on piano and sax, respectively. Elsewhere, Karrin Allyson shines in a too-brief set that includes the Bobby Timmons standard "Moanin'" (with lyrics by Jon Hendricks), while the bluesy, sultry "Stay Away from Bill," her duet with Diane Schuur (an extraordinarily powerful vocalist with an unfortunate tendency to shriek), is a highlight. Others include Dave Samuels, Nnenna Freelon and Monica Mancini (daughter of Henry); all are backed by some superb players, including a mostly German WDR big band conducted by the estimable Tom Scott. 

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Astrud Gilberto - Live at ZDF Jazz Club, Germany - 1988

How can anybody not recognize this very distinct voice? The Queen of Bossa Nova - Astrud Gilberto. Astrud gained popularity during the the 60's and has become the voice of an angel from Brazil. During those days every singer started imitating her very soft and gentle voice. Born in Brazil with a German Father and practically grew up in Rio De Janiero. Now risiding permanently in the United States.

As you travel around the world you can always hear her music. Probably the most popular song she made is "The Shadow of Your Smile" Which was a big hit and went up the charts for several months. In this 1988 concert video at ZDF jazz club, Germany. You will notice that she still has her vibrant voice. Songs here were mostly sung in Portuguese language singing along with her band. Also appearing with her here is the son of Antonio Carlos Jobim - Paulo Jobim. Playing his accoustic guitar and singing to the tunes of "Samba do Soho" , "Mantiqueira", "Cumbia", and "Milkyway"

Tracks:

The Girl from Ipanema
Ponteio
My Friend Flora
Adeus America
Canto de Ossanha
Samba do Soho
Mantiqueira
Cumbia
Milkyway
Aqua de Beber ( English Version)

Enjoy the classic style singing of Astrud Gilberto for an hour of Bossa Nova!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Shirley Horn - Live At The Village Vanguard - New York, USA - 1991 - 2006 release


Her ballads are sensitive and knowing, and on the jazzy up-tempos Shirley horn swings like hell! In this very rare live performance captured at New York's Village Vanguard in 1991, renowed jazz singer, pianist and GRAMMY winner Shirley Horn displays her astounding musical command through 12 classic songs, accompanied by the inimitable Charles Ables on bass and Steve Williams on drums. See and hear why this elegant artist was truly one of a kind, and why the legendary Johhnny Mandel said of her: " Shirley Horn is the one singer who all the other great singers - Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae - bow down to" 78 minutes of pure jazz swingin with the legendary jazz singer Shirley Horn.


JAZZ TRACKS:

Change Partners
IVe Got the World on a String
How Am I to know?
Wild is the Wind
The Rules of the Road
One at a time
Nice and Easy
Iam Just fooling Myself
Isn't it aPity?
Return to Paradise
Quietly There

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Patricia Barber - Montreal Jazz Festivals - 1999 - 2001


Jazz singer and pianist - Chicago based player - Patricia Barber performing live at the Montreal Jazz Festivals 1999 and 2001 Jazz Festivals. In her more exploring way of expressing jazz music. Patricia's inventiveness in exploring jazz can sometimes be a little heavy for jazz beginners, but for true lovers of her music. You will fall in-love with this concert. This dvd is one of her best jazz concerts ever made.
Her lyrics are some of the most absorbing I have heard on record in a long time. She writes in part from experience, often metaphorically, and takes on some familiar subjects by casting an entirely new light on them. But most impressive is her sheer power of language. She puts words and phrases into songs the likes of which have rarely been heard, and at a more poetic level than some of the best folkies. She is also not without a sense of dry wit, whom she credits Mose Allison for inspiring.
From commercial pop music to jazz. Patricia sings with a certain degree of elegance and have captured the attention of jazz music fans. Her stlyle of playing the piano is more or less by definition, a singer rather than a songwriter. This is especially true in jazz, where the performance, improvisation and interpretation are the keys. Material consists of familiar great selected songs that came from her cd's between the year of 1999 and 2001. This dvd lasted an hour of pure breed jazz.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Diana Krall - Live at Bell Centre - 25th Montreal Jazz Festival - Canada - 2004


Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival features Diana Krall on vocals and piano along with her band of Anthony Wilson on guitar, Peter Erskine on drums, and Robert Hurst on bass. Most of the songs performed here are culled from Krall’s Verve release, The Girl in the Other Room. The album, which has been certified Gold in the US and double Platinum in Krall’s native Canada, marked a change in that it showcased for the first time Krall’s skills as a songwriter. Many of the album’s songs were penned by Krall and her husband, Elvis Costello. Some of the Krall/Costello compositions featured on Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival are “Abandoned Masquerade,” “Departure Bay,” and “Narrow Daylight.” The DVD also features Krall’s concert opener, the original instrumental “Sometimes I Just Freak Out,”


Krall also interpreted songs from a wide range of artists for The Girl in the Other Room, including Tom Waits (“Temptation”), Mose Allison (“Stop This World”), and Joni Mitchell (“Black Crow”). GRAMMY®-winner Krall revisits some classic favorites from her earlier Verve and Impulse! recordings on this DVD as well. During this performance, she included “All or Nothing at All” from her album Love Scenes and “East of the Sun (West of the Moon)” and “Devil May Care” from When I Look in Your Eyes. The DVD concert is 1:28:28 long.


Sunday, August 12, 2007

Acoustic Alchemy - Sounds of St. Lucia - 2006


British smooth jazz group Acoustic Alchemy climbed to the top of the charts with lively grooves and infectious melodies, capturing three Grammy nominations. Beginning as an acoustic guitar duo, these longtime radio favorites have welcomed additional instrumentalists into their line-up. Their intricate, mesmerizing sound has continued to grow and evolve through the years, absorbing many different musical influences and continuing to surprise and delight fans and critics around the world.

Songs:

Catalina Kiss, Playing for Time, Angel of the South, The Beautiful Game, Trailblazer, Viva Che, Cool as a Rool, Flamenco Loco, The Wind of Change, Augustrasse 18, Panama Cat, Lazeez, Red Dust, Casino. 1 hour of cool jazzin!



The Jazz Crusaders - Germany -1987

Boss Mainstream jazz of the highest quality. Outstanding performances by Wayne Henderson - sax, Joe Sample -Piano, James Earl -Bass, Scott Peaker - drums, Eddie Davis- Trumpet, David T. Walker -guitar, Reichii Guillory - vocals . With Special guest appearances of Airto Moreira on percussion and Kenny G. on clarinet.





Tracks: Mischievous Ways, Chain Reaction, Sunrise, Carmel, The way it goes, Street Life, Put it where you want it and Covert action. This concert was held in Germany 1987 Another classic edition from a veteran jazz group - JAZZ CRUSADERS!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Tony Bennett -Duets - The Making Of An American Classic - 2007 release


When I first saw and heard this DVD -Nobody can really replace Tony Bennetts very cool smooth voice. His expressiveness is incomparable and he is truly a class act. To see him going strong at eighty years old genuinely warms my heart. What makes this show so special is the intimate look it takes at the process that Bennett and his singing partners went through to put the album together. We hear songs like "Swing On, You Sinners," and "For Once In My Life" in the distinctive crooning and spontaneous style that Bennett has made famous. There really is no duplicating the kind of confidence and spirit that emerges from these sessions.
After decades of recording and performing, Tony Bennett can still belt it out with the best of 'em. So it's only fitting that after 50 years of hits the stars would align and beat down Tony Bennett's door for a chance to be on a duet with him. Tony still wallops an enthusiastic and inspired vocal punch that some of these youngsters could takes notes from.

This dvd includes seven videos with behind-the-scenes vignettes. Which runs about 21 minutes, shows film clips on recording sessions and interviews featuring producer Phil Ramone, Tony Bennett with Bono, Dixie Chicks, Michael Bublé, Elton John, John Legend and also cameo appearances of Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Elvis Costello and Diana Krall. Perfecting the art of excellence for over six decades, with 105 albums selling over 50 million copies, Tony Bennett has come to represent the essence of elegance, tradition and artistic accomplishments. Tony celebrates his 80th birthday recording duets of his greatest hits with today's greatest artists: Bono, Michael Bublé, Elvis Costello, Celine Dion, Dixie Chicks, Billy Joel, Elton John, Juanes, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, John Legend, Paul McCartney, Tim McGraw, George Michael, Sting, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor and Stevie Wonder. An hour of full Jazz melodies from a master of jazz music- Tony Bennett!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Quincy Jones - Reflections - Live at Budokan, Japan - 1981

















Quincy Jones has been known for his magnificent arrangements and compositions. In his entire musical career, he has produced albums from different well known artists like Michael Jackson, James Ingram, Frank Sinatra and more. In this dvd concert held in Budokan, Japan.

Quincy played along with Carlos Rios - guitar, Toots Thielemans - guitar and harmonica. Played his ever popular song Bluesette with whistling effects and Brown Ballad composed by Quincy Jones. Patti Austin - singing - Razzmatazz, James Ingram - singing - Just Once and I know Corrida. The singers are all accompanied by a 50 piece -Tokyo String Symphony Orchestra and Quincy Jones as the conductor. If you are a big fan of Quincy Jones you will surely love to watch this concert. It will bring you back in the 80's. An hour of good swinging jazz melodies from the maestro himself Mr.Quincy Jones.


Monday, July 16, 2007

Silje Nergaard and Band - Jazz Im Zelt - 3Sat Festival - Mainz,Germany 2003














Silje Nergaard (born June 19, 1966 in Steinkjer, Norway), is a Norwegian pop and jazz musician. While some very old titles of her songs rather have a distinct pop feel, she has now almost completely given up making pop music, which is the reason why virtually the entirety of her later releases consists of jazzy tunes. With her debut album produced by the jazz guitar maestro Pat Metheny, Silje is one of very few Norwegian artists to have been commercially released all around the globe, on most continent and major music markets -- including Brazil, Germany, USA and the United Kingdom -- and doing so with great success and phenomenal feedback. In this dvd concert held in Mainz ,Germany 2003, was one of her first few jazz concerts held in 3Sat Festival. Along with some fellow jazz european musicians. If you are familiar with her songs, here is a complete list of the songs, Borrowing Moons, Be Gone, How Am I Supposed To See The Stars, You Send Me Flowers, If You Love Somebody, Dance Me Love, Tell Me Where Uou Going, I Don't Want To See You Cry, This Is Not America, Take A Long Walk and Japanese Blue. Enjoy 1 hour of jazz music from Silje!


Al Jarreau - Tenderness - All Star Cast - "Live" - Studio Recording - 1994

Al Jarreau- A Living Legend. Once again Al Jarreau proves himself to be one of the foremost voices in the music industry and THE consumate musician with his album and Live video TENDERNESS.
This dvd video is 60 minutes of pure artistry and musicianship comprised of the creme de la creme of the music industry supporting one of the greatest assets Jazz, R&B and Pop music has ever seen. Owners of the TENDERNESS CD will really appreciate the fact that most of the performances on the Video are of different takes than the ones that exist on the album; showcasing, in my opinion, one of the most amazing facets of Jarreau's performing: his ability to make the same song a completely different musical experience no matter how many times he has performed it.

There is no one quite like Al Jarreau. What a unique voice he has and he displays it beautifully on this "Live" studio recording video. Backed by some of the industries best jazz musicians -Steve Gadd on Drums, Eric Gale on Guitar, Marcus Miller on Bass, Joe Sample on Piano ,Paulinho daCosta on percussion, David Sanborn on Sax an more. Al takes us on a musical journey from the past to present, leaving you well satisfied. Check out his rendetion of "Summertime" ,"Masquenada" and a new classic "Dinosaurs". He's Hot and yet so Soothing! Al Jarreau will always be at the top of my list as one of the best jazz vocalists of our time, and I guarantee the same for your list if you view this dvd video for yourself! Enjoy!


Saturday, July 14, 2007

Madeleine Peyroux - Live at the Basement, Sydney, Australia - January 21, 2007


On stage American singer Madeleine Peyroux seems so shy, nervous and awkward that it almost hurts to watch her. "I didn't go to concerts for years," she told the audience at the Basement in Sydney in 2005. "That's why I'm not very good at this."
Despite her obvious fear of the limelight, the girl with the folksy Billie Holiday voice is enjoying great success on both sides of the Atlantic. Peyroux, 32, has just released her third album, Half the Perfect World, and is about to return to Sydney as one of the hot tickets of the 2007 Sydney Festival.
Half the Perfect World has followed her best-selling 2004 album, Careless Love, with almost unseemly haste. After all, there was an eight-year gap between Careless Love and her debut album, Dreamland. Was it that same blend of self-doubt and self-preservation that makes some artists wary of early commercial success? "Wow!" she says, over the telephone from New York. "I think you hit the nail on the head. I had many doubts about it [performing music] being an appropriate job for me. As a career it's quite a different thing than just to say that I love to play music."
Born in Athens, Georgia, but raised in Southern California and Paris, Peyroux's voice still betrays a trace of the South. After her parents' divorce in the late 1980s, she moved to Paris with her mother before being sent to an English boarding school. At 15, she ran away, back to Paris, where she joined a group of street musicians.
Initially, she just passed the hat around for the buskers. Then she began to sing, joined another troupe and lived hand-to-mouth without a home as a busker for three years. It is a period that she recalls with great fondness.
"I have to be very careful not to look back and romanticise it too much," she says. "But I must say that I learned to find the muses at that point in my life. You can be touched very deeply when you're on the street. The exchange is so intimate - you really feel that you've changed someone's day - and it's completely serendipitous."
By her own admission, Peyroux struggled with the fame that followed her debut album, which was described by Time magazine as "the most exciting, involving, vocal performance by a new singer this year". Her response was to disappear from the music scene for a while. "I stepped back and took a breather."
This tendency to go AWOL has not changed much since her school days. While on tour in Europe last year, Peyroux failed to turn up for a television interview and her record company had to hire a private detective to track her down. She had skipped town for New York.
But Peyroux promises she will arrive in Sydney, armed with an eclectic mix of jazz standards, songs by Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits, plus a smattering of original compositions.
"Frankly it's a very dramatic show; a show that has a theatrical aspect to it," she says. "The show has been growing over the past six months in a way that suits the music better."
Not that this most tentative, awkward and beguiling of artists is in danger of finding a comfortable, mid-career groove. "I actually think of myself as still being at the very beginning stages of what I do."
This High Definition Broadcast from Australia was taken right after her concert last January of 2007. It lasted for almost an hour of pure Madeleine -Folksy-jazzy type of music.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Antonio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute




Billboard Magazine- Catherine Applefeld…(jobim) is paid brilliant tribute in this video that captures his last-recorded concert appearance, features a cornucopia of jazz greats. DISCoveries Magazine- Steven I. Ramma "must own"…gets the highest recommendation Spectator Magazine- Philip Van Vleckabsolutely killer…sound quality...is first rate,thank goodness,because the concert footage is excellent and the performances are memorable in every detail… JazzTimes- Chuck Berga wonderful souvenir from one of jazzdom’s great…it’s musical lovefest. The Brazilian Sound by Chris McGowan and Richardo Pessanha…rivals, in sophistication and originality, the music of 20th Century composers such as George Gershwin and Heitor Villa-Lobs." Product DescriptionWINNER OF...1995 JazzTimes Reader Poll- Best Video- First Runner Up

Direct from Brazil in his last recorded performance, Antoine Carlos Jobim (1927-1994) is joined by an international delegation of jazz giants to recreate his classic melodies in a beautiful, concert-With over four hundred songs to his credit including the unforgettable Girl From Ipanema, Jobim virtually single handedly brought the world Bossa Nova by adapting the percussive excitement of the samba to the intimacy of the guitar while echoing the melodies and harmonies of Cool Jazz. This classic, concert-length "Thank You" includes: Girl From Ipanema, Once I Loved, O Grande Amor, No More Blues, Wave and more .With him are on Pianos, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Herbie Hancock,Tom Jobim on guitar,Gal Costa Vocals, Jon Hendricks, Vocals, Shirley Horns vocals Ron Carter on Acoustic bass, Harvey Mason on drums, Alex Acuna on percussion, Joe Henderson on Sax and more.. Almost an hour of full samba music...




Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Power Of Three - Michell Petrucianni, Jim Hall and Wayne Shorter -Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland

A bit unusual to form a Trio like this. A pianist - Michell Petrucianni, guitarist - Jim Hall and a saxophonist - Wayne Shorter .The power of this trio showed magnificent, skillfull display of performances. They showed superb full texture melody, harmony, counter melodies and complex phrasing. Most of the performances are absolutely joyful to watch. This concert held in Montreux Jazz Festival is an intimate one and is full of challenge improvisation. Most of the performances in this concert are first takes, where this trio let go of their conscious technique and simply let their music flow.
Intelligently a combination of extremely very talented players. Jim Hall's amazing techniques gives a sense of thoughtful preparation and construction. While Michell's playing of the piano brought absolute conviction and Wayne's intricate performances captured the entire audience. Feeling his unique style in delicate, radically different interpretation but easy going tempo rendition. This Trio is truly a Masters dream . The entire concert showed very smooth swinging and distinctive playing. Indeed a masterly taste! Almost 1 hour of hybrid very classy jazz......

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

FOURPLAY - An Evening with Fourplay - 2 discs





Pianist Bob James is one of a handful of artists that the smooth jazz radio format was created to showcase. Those same sorts of aficionados criticized James when in 1974, after 10 years of playing straight-ahead swing and bop and some avant garde jazz, he made the switch to a plush form of fusion.

He has been accused of selling out, but James insists the opposite was true: He was going in the only direction that didn't look like old ground back then. "I was not happy, even then, playing bebop," he says. "It had already been done and all my heroes did it better than I thought I would be doing it. "Jazz has to keep changing. If it stays the same, it becomes museum music - a reenactment. One of the best and most interesting things about jazz to me is that it always strikes out in different directions." James wanted to eschew the tendency of some artists and fans to cast jazz in amber and protect it from the untutored. "What I liked about earlier forms of jazz was the sense of fun. I wanted to make music that hearkened back to the time when jazz was danced to." James' read on potential listeners was spot-on. He became a hugely successful jazz artist, wracking up numerous gold records.

It was for one of his many solo projects, 1990's "Grand Piano Canyon," that James fatefully recruited the musicians who would come to make up Fourplay: guitarist Lee Ritenour, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Harvey Mason (Larry Carlton replaced Ritenour in the late '90s).

"It was a very magical day," James says. "We all were feeling it. Just because you bring talented people into the studio, doesn't mean you're going to click with them. This was a very special thing. One thing lead to another and we approached an A&R guy at Warner with the idea of forming a group." A supergroup to be precise, comprised of musicians who had all made indelible artistic marks.
Assembling famous musicians for the purpose of collaboration is sometimes like filling a sack with alley cats. But Fourplay sought to eliminate that threat straight off. "From the beginning, we agreed that this would be a group without leaders, a totally democratic outfit. That's why Fourplay has lasted as long as it has, in my opinion. Nobody has the power to pull the group too much one way or another, and everybody has shown the willingness to bend." Largely because of the conservatism of smooth jazz radio, Fourplay bent farther than it ever has for its most recent CD, "Heartfelt". The group flew in the face of prudence and improvised the entire thing in the studio. "We felt like it was the only response we could make," James says. "We needed to make music that was adventurous enough to go beyond the strictures and good enough to cut through and find an audience.

He has projects in the works that would involve a hip-hop DJ and an acoustic trio, respectively. The latter would pay homage to such jazz keyboard legends as Bill Evans and Ahmad Jamal. As James learned after the release of his 1995 acoustic trio recording "Straight Up," there ever exists a danger that he could make himself a man without a country, or a musician without a format. James believes his smooth jazz history caused acoustic jazz programmers to dismiss "Straight Up" out of hand. And smooth jazz programmers, of course, didn't know what to make of it. But James says he can only do what he insists he has always done: be honest with himself. "Once again, you can't please everybody. An artist can't lose sight of his first responsibility: to be faithful to his own vision." This dvd lasted for 2 hours with magnificent display of unbelievable performances.




Monday, May 21, 2007

Montreux Sounds...Live! One night only ! - Chateau St. Michelle Winery - 2000


Over the course of jazz years careers, This group of very talented jazz players gathered in this one night stand jazz event that has established themselves as one of the premiere jazz players of all time. Joe Sample often credited with being one of the architects of mellow jazzy piano style, Sample esteemed status as a prime jazz piano innovator is eternally assured by his trademark sound. His fans have said that his combination of jazz-enhanced work with an intense delivery is powerful enough to fill up the whole concert venue.
Montreux Sounds live! ,is enchanted with this paradise called Chateau St. Michelle, Winerey. As George Duke said "It's like a gateway to heaven" Duke performance is just amazing, full of thrill and excitement. Full jazz musical performances, singing along mostly his greatest hits. Gathered in this very rare jazz event on stage by fellow Jazz stars: Lalah Hathaway, Al Jarreau, George Duke, David Sanborn and more for a truly special Jazz show. The DVD features nearly two hours -and-a-half of performances of Jazz classics.

George Benson - Absolutely Live, Belfast, Ireland - 2001 release

Toward the beginning of his 90-minute set recorded on May 27, 2000, in Belfast, Ireland, George Benson gushes that he's always had a fantasy of fronting a big band and covering jazz classics. It becomes increasingly clear, however, that some fantasies should remain just that. There's no questioning Benson's contribution to jazz over the years. He's been hailed as one of the genre's finest, most expressive, and fluid guitarists. His ability to cross numerous genres is impeccable and he's influenced a generation of players. However when Benson ditches his guitar in favor of singing--something he started doing in the '70s and does frequently during this show--his material suffers. While his vocal range is impressive on songs like "I Only Have Eyes for You" and on his own hits like "This Masquerade" and "Breezin'," his style is awkward and often forced, and his numerous attempts at scat singing prove that Louis Armstrong he's not. Experiments are fine, but Benson should remember what instrument brought him to the dance. George Benson performs with his group during his Northern Ireland tour. This concert was filmed on a Sunday, May 28th, 2000 at the Belfast Waterfront Hall in Belfast. George Benson performs with his group featuring special guest Joe Sample, the BBC Big Band and members of the Ulster Orchestra. Songs on this live recording include "This Masquerade", "Breezin'", "Give Me The Night", "On Broadway", "Turn Your Love Around", "I Only Have Eyes For You", "Hippin' The Hop", "Danny Boy", "Deeper Than You Think", "Love x Love", "Never Give Up on a Good Thing", "Moody's Mood", "In Your Eyes", and more. The George Benson group is: George Benson - Guitar/Vocals; Joe Sample - Keyboards; Stanley Banks - Bass Guitar; Thomas Hall - Keyboards; Michael O'Neill - Guitar/Vocals; Dennis Saucedo - Pecussion/Vocals; Michael White - Drums; David William - Musical Director and Piano. 90 minutes of jazz breezin....

Friday, May 18, 2007

John Pizzarelli - Live at Montreal - The Big Band 1992

John Pizzarelli is captured onstage at the 1992 Montreal Jazz Festival with his Big Band in tow on this concert video, which has the noted guitarist and vocalist swinging his way through a dozen jazz standards. Selections include "I'm Hip," "Three Little Words," "My Baby Just Cares for Me," "Honeysuckle Rose," and "All of Me."
50 minutes of pure Pizzarelli's jazz music.



Jamie Cullum - Live at Blenheim Palace - 2004





















Jamie Cullum
has chosen the comfort and grace of Live At Blenheim Palace for his summer 2004 festival documentary. This sprawling Baroque manor near Oxford provides an ideal setting for swooping, atmospheric camerawork, with the casually-attired Cullum acting as an incongruous focal point.
Jamie commands the stage space with a confidence that belies his tender years, ignoring the usual limitations of the performer's body. He's often found under the piano, or dancing on top of its lid, or even inside, using the entire instrument as a percussion tool. He's constantly running around the stage, interacting with his band, bounding down to shake hands with the front rows.
This is an exhaustive record of where Cullum's stage show currently stands. It's a lesson in how to entertain an audience whilst maintaining musical integrity. Jamie is modest about his jazz credentials but has excellent taste when recruiting his regular team of bassist Geoff Gascoyne and drummer Sebastiaan De Kromm. Cullum's horn section also boasts the presence of trombonist Barnaby Dickinson and saxophonist Ben Castle, two of the UK scene's brightest newcomers. The camerawork doesn't distract, but still has a dynamic sense, managing to keep track of Cullum's antics from a variety of quick-edit angles. There isn't much preamble, with the concert presented in straightforward manner. In-between each cluster of songs, there's a selection of documentary inserts, showing Jamie on tour in the USA, playing at Glastonbury, paying homage to the 1950s beat poets and meeting his (mostly female) autograph hunters. "I wonder if it's possible that I could touch your arse?," asks one, but we don't get to hear his reply. Extras include the trio busking in San Francisco (with no audience gathered, funnily enough), more Glastonbury footage, an excerpt from the South Bank Show special and the videos of "All At Sea", "These Are The Days" and "The Wind Cries Mary". Jamie's energetic, all original compositions will absolutely jazz rock you all the way. Very talented young jazzer....