Norman Granz at Montreux Jazz: Improvisation - Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and More
by Gjon Mili
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DVD details
Actor: George 'Red' Callender, Harry Edison, Lester Young, Marlowe Morris, Sidney CatlettDirector: Gjon Mili
Brand: RED Distribution
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 10 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Norman Granz at Montreux Jazz: Improvisation - Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and More
DVD Review: MAGNIFICENT and HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT
Summary: 5 Stars
This essential double dvd is a must have for all serious jazz fans...
"Improvisation", the famous unfinished 1950 sequel to 1944 "Jammin' the Blues" is shown here in all its glory... It is quite obvious that the film isn't finished, but it's priceless to see Hawkins and Parker enjoying each other's company, Lester Young joining Buddy Rich, Hank Jones, Bill Harris, Ella Fitzgerald...
On few occasions you even have alternate camera angles to compare with the "A" version of the film.
And on disk 2 you have great photos, the silent footage of Ella, Bird, Rich, Jones, Young and other 1950 stars, the 1944 great film "Jammin' the blues" (The Pres playing with Illinois Jacquet, Sweets Edison,Jo Jones...), a film that is finished both musically and cinematically... Great stuff!
However, musically speaking, my favorites are actually "Jammin' the blues" (particularly some Lester's licks, Edison's open horn and Jo Jones drumming) as well as some actual improvisation, recorded a bit later... First of all, there is a Duke Ellington's trio performance ("Blues for Joan Miro"; John Lamb-b,Sam Woodyard-dm), Count Basie's magnificent and hillariously funny "Nob's Blues", where he musically chats with Ray Brown's bass and with the history of jazz piano and, last but not least, Oscar Peterson-lead stellar group performing a sort of cutting contest between Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and Eddie Lackjaw Davis (with the great Dane Niels Pedersen on bass...)
After the concert, the Peterson-Terry-Gillespie-Davis performance was named "Ali and Frazier", after a famous boxing match, and the godfather of the song was Count Basie.
And, although most of the short aditional interviews (and Nat Hentoff's portrait of Norman Granz) are recorded with something that must have been and inexpensive video camera, it is beautiful to see Roy Haynes explaining the history of (modern) jazz from the drummer's perspective, or to see 82 years young Harry Sweets Edison smoking his cigarette, discussing his glorious past and musing about all the great ones who had passed away, listen to Jimmy Heath's view of Parker and the birth of modern jazz...
And Phil Woods intelligently reminiscing of his first encounters Charlie Parker (and Dizzy)?
Really touching... I have no words to desribe it.
And Norman Granz organized all the great performances on this DVD (I failed to mention Al Grey, Vic Dickenson, Roy Eldridge, Joe Pass...).
Thank You mr. Granz!
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Description of Norman Granz at Montreux Jazz: Improvisation - Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and More
In 1944 Norman Granz and Gjon Mili collaborated on a film about jazz music called Jammin The Blues. Highlysuccessful, it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Short Film and is described on the IMDB as Maybe the greatest film ever about jazz. In 1950 they collaborated again on a film about jazz improvisation that was never completed. This footage has now been combined with other film of jazz improvisation shot by Norman Granz at different times and locations to create this new film simply titled Improvisation . / Tracklisting:
Mili's Studio Sequence 1950 -
1) Opening Title 2) Ballade 3) Celebrity 4) Ad Lib
5) Pennies From Heaven 6) Blues For Greasy /
Duke Ellington at the Cote D'Azur -
7) Blues For Joan Miro
Count Basie At Montreux Jazz Festival 1977 - 8) Nob's Blues 9) Kidney Stew 10) These Foolish Things / Joe Pass 1979 - 11) Ain't Misbehavin 12) Prelude To A Kiss / Ella Fitzgerald 1979-
13) Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me 14) I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good /
Oscar Peterson At Montreux Jazz Festival 1977 -
15) Ali & Frazier /
Bonus Features:
Disc One: Portrait of Norman Granz narrated by Nat Hentoff /
Portraits by David Stone Martin -
Disc Two: Extra rushes / Interviews about the Mili session / Interviews
about Charlie Parker / Photo gallery of Paul Nodler's pictures of the Mili
session / The original 1944 film Jammin The Blues
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