Jam Miami - A Celebration of Latin Jazz

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DVD Reviews of Jam Miami - A Celebration of Latin Jazz

DVD Review: Big band latin jazz will blow you away!
Summary: 5 Stars

What I love about this production is that it is live and raw, no fix up in the studio. And I LOVE the camera that is dead center in front of the band, which gives you a dead center, front view of the band and when Arturo Sandoval is playing a trumpet solo he and his trumpet face dead straight at YOU! It doesn't get better than this!

Arturo Sandoval leads this large big jazz band but also plays virtuoso solos that rival Manyard Ferguson. Super high notes and super low notes come flying out of his trumpet, as only a master can do it. And make no mistake, Arturo is a master trumpeter!

But Arturo isn't the only trumpet soloist here! This concert has several trumpet soloists that come forward and deliver! Cluadio Roditi plays a trumpet (maybe a fluglehorn?) that has side valves, and the tone of this trumpet is much less brassy, but very mellow. I haven't heard a more beautiful trumpet tone in my life!

Chick Corea is in top form playing a Fender Rhodes Mark V electric piano and we get lots of close ups of his fingers at work. Chick has set the Fender Rhodes at a very smooth tone setting- maybe a bit too smooth. I was desiring a more distorted tone, but it's still quite acceptable. For example, the first piece features a xylophone but the smooth tone of the Fender Rhodes seemed too similar to the xylophone (to my ears). Chick maybe should have played acoustic piano on this piece.

Don't let the first selection fool you. The first piece is a light piece of music compared to what soon follows- full blast jazz band and hot trumpet jazz solos. A large percussion section, with Poncho Sanchez on congos, keeps the rythmns going, and full scale horn and sax sections are superb.

The raw audio quality is exciting, and although a better mix could have been achieved in the studio, I much prefer the TRUE live audio presented here without any apparent extra studio dubbing. Alhough Chick's electric piano may be a bit too smooth, and the percussion section isn't mixed as good as it could have been, the horn and sax section however sound phenomenal!! (could have been dubbed later, not 100 percent sure, but don't care- it sounds great!)

The camera work and editing is very good. There are several cameras being utilized. I started to worry about some very brief special effects- video 'freeze' and 'jerky' effects. Usually, these dumb special effects ruin the show, but fortunately, they are used for only very brief moments. Thank goodness because it's a joy watching these musicians work! And again, I love that dead center camera right in front of the band!

The concert is kinda short but I'm not complaining at all. After all, trumpet lips get tired, but we hear no cracking notes here. Plus, thank goodness, there is no talking between songs and no filler video clips during or between the songs as well, which is GREAT!! The concert moves along non-stop to a very satisfying finale of "I Love Lucy" theme, and it's all delivered with heart and soul!

This is mostly a trumpet spectacular but Chick Corea is heavily featured as well. Sax and trombone solos are unfortunately very brief, I wanted to hear more sax solo, but I'm happy otherwise with the trumpet solos. There is even a guy playing conk sea shells (blowing through them like a trumpet) on one song! However, this was more of a novelty for a few laughs, because as hard as he tried, he couldn't really get enough notes from the conk shells to make music like a real instrument. Still, it was fun to see.

Jazz Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Latin Music