The Sound of Jazz [Blu-ray]

I had heard the LP put out in the 1950s of this great program. I have owned it on tape. I've seen portions of the performances in Jazz documentaries over the decades. I even bought the VHS as a Christmas present for my Dad. Simply nothing prepared me for how much fun and joy it was to watch this. Nothing! The story goes that this was underwritten by a wealthy Jazz lover who paid for such a great bevy of Jazz legends to be gathered in the studio that it included the three greatest tenor men in Jazz history--Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster--Basie and Freddie Green reunited with Joe Jones, Danny Barker, Billie Holiday, Buck Clayton, Milt Hinton, Hank Jones, Thelonius Monk, Pee Wee Russel, Jimmy Jufree (know I can't spell that right), and others I have probably forgetten like the great Vic Dickinson and the super great Jimmie Rushing. Seeing all these musicians together, jamming, though most of the big band events are really united by the principles of Basieism Old Testment style with the sold All-America Rhythm Section beat provided by the three originals, Basie, Green, and Jones with Eddie Jones filling in more than adequately on base. You have a lot of that with Old Testment Baseites like Rushing, Morton, and Dickinson returning to join the Count and barely any of the new Testament crowd in evidence. Of course, on top of these soloists having Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster just in the room, let alone playing their horns, was probably Basie's dream. The only concession to Bop Here is Thelonius Monk who plays a cool version of Blue Monk supported by his own bass and drums. Monk said having Count Basie staring at him on the other side of the piano during his tune didn't exactly make him happy, but you won't notice that on the DVD. Generally, seeing the reactions of the different musicians to others playing is one of the best things about this DVD. I especially love seeing Jimmie Rushing and Billie digging the band sessions just walking around singing. I have heard on live recordings like Basie at Newport, the impact of Jimmie Rushing's encouragment and hand clapping and shouting to swing the Basie band, and heard more about that from elders who were there, but to see this actually happening, and to see as well as hear Jimmie sing, oh my oh my, why dont I go home and spend all day playing this over and over. The most famous part of this DVD is the Billie's performance of Fine and Mellow with Lester Young Soloing. Folks have written songs and poems just about this one cut long before this thing was available on video. They say when it was over everyone in the TV control room was in tears. Lester was not well that day and so he only participated in this one cut. He played in the slow, deliberate understated way he did when his body wasn't up to the punishment he was giving it by drinking a quart of bourbon every day for 10 years! His great collaboration with Billie Holiday from 1937 to 1941 had ended when Billie became a heroin addict because Prez refused to have anything to do with anyone who used needles. And this was a great moment to see the artistry pouring out of both of them, even though they had both destroyed the bodies that had made them great artists in the 1930s and 1940s. As much as I have worshipped Lester's solo and Billie's singing on this track, recognition needs to be given to Ben Webster's solo on this tune. Webster had actually been working with Billie in the great set of Verve recordings they did with folks like Harry Sweets Edison. In fact, while Lester's work with Billie in the 1930s is the true masterpiece of vocalist instrumentalist collaboration, Webster and Sweets later work needs some mention. Jerry Mulligan's solo on Fine and Mellow would also be famous were it not for the Lester/Billie connection. You not only hear it but you can see Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins being wowed by Mulligan's playing. In fact, besides the overwhelming fact of the superiority of the swinging nature of Basieism, the thing that impressed me most was the playing of Webster and Coleman Hawkins who were veterans of the 1930s--and in Hawkin's case the 1920s--who could still play it hard, dirty, and almost bopish in the 1950s. Juffre's third-stream number is interesting, although it mainly impresses one with how pallid 3-d stream and "cool" or "West Coast" Jazz was compared to Black swing and Dixieland or bop. We get to see this vividly when Juffre and Pee Wee Russell trade clarinet solos on a blues jam afterwards. Juffre is clearly slumping off compared to the strength drive and dirtiness of Russel. The cult-hero of this film is the great drummer Joe Jones who appears with every one of the ensembles. His drumming is relaxed, fluid, time keeping, and his interaction with the other players is one of the most interesting things in the film.In the clarinet duo, we can see him kind of grimacing and being a little irked and bored while Juffre plays while he brightens up for Russell. I really like digging him when he has the big band going and the old Basieite rhythm is being revived. On the DVD you get two extras, sets that were cut from the broadcast that are not on the LP. One is a forgettable Ahmad Jamal trio performance where Jamal focuses on pyrotechnics and not swing, on demonstrating his technical skills without really communicating much musically. He is immediately shown up by the playing of the great Hank Jones in an ensemble led by Ben Webster that includes Buck Clayton and Vick Dickinson (it would be interesting to know why Clayton never plays in the Basie sets since at the time Clayton was making his famous Buck Clayton Breakdowns which were recordings of Baseites and Southwestern era musicans creating old testament Basie music after Basie had gone on to the new.) Oh how could I forget the two numbers done by a traditional jazz combo led by Red Allen. There is some really great playing by Allen and by Vick Dickinson and Coleman Hawkins.This is simply so good that you are going to play this like a record, over and over again.

THIS CONCERT WAS PREVIOUSLY RELEASED ON DVD AND TITLED "JAZZ MASTERS: VINTAGE COLLECTION". I PURCHASED A COPY AND WROTE THE REVIEW BELOW. IT WAS ISSUED FOR ALL REGIONS BUT IT TAKES SEVERAL TRIES TO GET MY REGION 1 DVD PLAYER TO START PLAYING IT. THIS BLUE RAY EDITION IS RELEASED FOR REGION 2. AND MY QUESTION IS "WHY"? IS NOT THIS MUSIC AMERICAN AFTER ALL?This DVD is coded "all regions" and I had to fidget with my Zenith player's remote control to get the disk to start to play. What a relief when it began to play.There was a golden era of jazz and the engagements recorded here (in black and white - 1944 to 1959) date back to the zenith of that era. For one who was too young to have enjoyed these concerts in person, watching the DVD is mesmerizing. Imagine stumbling across a film of the real Henry VIII, Henry Ford or Frederick Douglass in heaven's vault after learning all the history. To see Ben Webster, Hank Jones, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday (singing Fine & Mellow), Roy Elridge, Miles Davis, Jerry Mulligan and many others performing in their prime is truly unbelievable. If you know anything at all about jazz this is for you. It is a black and white film of acceptable video quality and very good audio. My one disappointment is that vol 1 of the film cut Jimmy Giuffre's beautiful blues short.For another superb rendition of Fine and Mellow check out Carmen McRae's Ballad Essentials cd.UPDATE - 5/19/2015: I've received my order of The Sound of Jazz and my region A/1 (US) blue ray player has no problem playing this blue ray disc. But the audio could be better. It is still two channel audio and I must raise the volume on my amplifier very highly to enjoy the concerts. I deduct one star for unimproved audio.

When I initially ordered the blu-ray of Robert Herridge's "The Sound of Jazz", I had to wonder -- what is a blu-ray of a kinescope going to look like. I was presently surprised that, while it still looks like a kinescope (which it is), this edition has improved contrast, sharpness and sound. That doesn't mean it is perfect, but I have bought six editions of Robert Herridge's "The Sound of Jazz" over the years on VHS, laserdisc and dvd. This one is the best I've seen. Also included on the Disc are two other Robert Herridge productions: "Jazz from 61" with Ahmad Jamal and Ben Webster (unfortunately missing opening and closing songs with credits), and "The Sound of Miles Davis". "Jammin' the Blues" with Lester Young, and a well known piece from a 1951 tv show with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are also included on the disc, as well as the audio of the Columbia studio album (not the actual soundtrack to the broadcast). I compared The Sound of Miles Davis on this disc with the version included in the Kind of Blue 50th Anniversary set -- and there is no comparison. The blu-ray was much sharper, much less grayed-out, had better contrast and was nowhere near as grainy. Get this before it disappears!And PLEASE release remastered sets of THE SUBJECT IS JAZZ, Billy Taylor's 1958 series, as well as ART FORD'S JAZZ PARTYP.S. One reviewer said that this material was available on JAZZ MASTERS: VINTAGE COLLECTION. The content difference is:- JAZZ MASTERS: VINTAGE COLLECTION takes out all the narration and credits (and therefore some of the songs as well). In the blu-ray disc of The Sound of Jazz, all of the Robert Herridge programs are shown in their entirety -- with the exception of Jazz From Sixty-One, which is missing the opening and closing songs and credits.- this disc also includes the 1940s short, Jammin' the Blues with Lester Young and others, as well as the 1951 tv piece with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie

Very good sound od jazz music. About the order, all things are very good. Perfect job. Thank you. Abílio

A most enjoyable collection of performances from true giants of the genre.They do not make them like they used to!!!

Fantastic

Amazon perfetta come sempre.Non altrettanto chi titola sound of jazz un blu ray che offende occhi e orecchie!(Audio mp3 192kbs,video sgranato tratto da registrazioni video elettroniche pessime già all'epoca).Tutto cio ben celato prima dell'acquisto.Ventina di euro sprecati(si fatica a riconoscere i volti dei musicisti)Ottimo per chi odia il jazz e vuole convincersi a cambiare genere!

as advertised

i had the original dvd of the 57 to 59 14 tracks some years ago and, frankly, blue ray makes no difference to picture or sound quality! however as this is one of the best jazz videos ever,its definitely worth the price the added bonus of "jammin the blues",charlie parker & miles davis make it a must for any lover of these giants of jazz.