Jazz+icons

In her forward to the Jazz Icons Series 3: Rahsaan Roland Kirk live in '63 and '67, Dorthann Kirk praised the DVD for showing her husband's talent "as a complete musician and not just a musical freak who played three horns simultaneously." That said, Kirk may not ever be seen as a jazz musician. He was no more typical a musician than Art Tatum. Both men, because of their respective loams of talent, could legitimately be considered "freaks" but only in the best sense of that pejorative: Rahsaan Roland Kirk was a singular talent who could make the conventional from the most unconventional.

Jazz Icons: Sarah Vaughan features the “Divine One” in her prime, wrapping her sultry voice around jazz standards such as “Lover Man”, “Misty” and “I Got Rhythm” and soaring on popular showtunes such as “Over The Rainbow” and “Maria”. One of the greatest voices of the 20th Century, her renditions of songs by Harold Arlen, Leonard Bernstein, Johnny Burke, the Gershwins and Stephen Sondheim are pure diva magic. These three performances demonstrate why Sarah Vaughan is invariably mentioned in the same breath as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.

Jazz Icons: Lionel Hampton spotlights a fiery hour-long concert from one of the most beloved bandleaders in jazz history. Hamp, the irrepressible king of entertainers, plays vibes, drums, piano, and sings and dances as he and his legendary big band absolutely delight this Belgian audience. Featuring stalwart jazz soloists such as Andy McGhee, Art Hoyle, Billy Mackel, Lou Blackburn, Bobby Plater, Wilbert Hogan, and Eddie Williams, the Hampton Orchestra plays Hamps signature blend of jump blues, jazz, and rhythm n blues, whipping the audience into a frenzy.

Unlike some of the films in the Jazz Icons series, this one looks like it was actually broadcast, with credits running twice for two programs. Unfortunately, there is a problem with the low end of the audio spectrum on many of the tracks – a very annoying distortion not heard on any of the other Jazz Icon DVDs in this or the first three series. I thought at first it was due to exaggeration of some artifacts caused by my running the mono signal (wish they would make it plain PCM stereo instead of Dolby) thru Dolby ProLogic II Matrix for a surround effect, but feeding it directly from the mono out if sounded the same.