Jazz+icons

Jazz Icons DVDs feature full-length concerts and in-studio performances by the greatest legends of jazz, filmed all over the world from the 1950s through the 1970s. Beautifully transferred from the original masters, each DVD features rare performances that have never been officially released on home video and, in many cases, were never broadcast. Each DVD includes a booklet with liner notes, rare photos and a memorabilia collage. Produced with the full support and cooperation of the artists or their estates.

Jazz Icons: Art Farmer highlights an amazing one hour Art Farmer concert from 1964 featuring the great flugelhornist in his prime. Farmer’s top-notch band includes legendary guitarist Jim Hall (fresh from Sonny Rollins’ band), drummer Pete LaRoca and Steve Swallow on bass. This legendary ensemble plays both standards and originals with ease and finesse and highlights why Farmer was considered one of the most innovative horn players in all of jazz.

This installment in the Jazz Icons series of memorable jazz performances captures two concerts by legendary musician Erroll Garner recorded in 1963 and 1964. Some of the songs featured in the performances include I Get a Kick Out of You, Misty, Sweet and Lovely, and more. One of the most distinctive of all pianists, Erroll Garner proved that it was possible to be a sophisticated player without knowing how to read music, that a creative jazz musician can be very popular without watering down his music, and that it is possible to remain an enthusiastic player without changing one's style once it is formed.

In the spring of 1959, when Louis Armstrong took the stage in Belgium to play the concert captured on this DVD, he had much to smile about. The irrepressible trumpeter and singer had cut his first records with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band some thirty-six years earlier. In the interim, he had completely redefined the possibilities of both instrumental jazz and popular singing. His concept of what it meant to swing had become the very essence of jazz rhythm, and his ceaseless ability to create coherent melodic improvisations over a given set of chord changes had reconstructed the very nature of the jazz ensemble.

Charles Mingus - Live In '64. Jazz Icons (2007) [DVD9] {Reelin' In The Years}
DVD9 -> 7.64 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | English (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | ~ 120 m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 87 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Reelin' In The Years / Naxos | 2.119006
Jazz / Post Bop / Bass

Jazz Icons: Charles Mingus showcases three exceptional concerts performed in April 1964 featuring his most celebrated lineup–Jaki Byard (piano), Dannie Richmond (drums), Johnny Coles (trumpet), Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) and the great Eric Dolphy (alto sax, flute and bass clarinet). Recorded within an eight-day span, less than three months before Dolphy's death, the three concerts showcase Mingus's visionary leadership and the band's incredible depth and diversity with unique performances and arrangements of classics including "So Long Eric" and the groundbreaking "Meditations On Integration".

Dizzy Gilespie features two historic concerts from one of the founding fathers of bebop. Filmed 12 years apart, the 1958 concert features Dizzy working eloquently within the small combo structure of a quintet including with such influential musicians as sax player Sonny Stitt and bassist Ray Brown. The second show focuses on a completely different side of Dizzy, fronting the legendary Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. With a 16-piece big band to conduct, including two drummers, his Latin influences are revealed on Con Alma and Manteca.

Anita O'Day - Live In '63 and '70. Jazz Icons (2006) [DVD-5] {Reelin' In The Years}
DVD-5 -> 3.82 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | English (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | 00:53:38
ISO Image | Full Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Reelin' In The Years / TDK | DVWW-JIBR
Jazz / Bop / Vocal Jazz

Jazz Icons: Anita O’Day boasts two wonderful concerts from 1963 and 1970 that present the “jazz singer supreme” in impeccable form. O’Day’s horn-based approach to singing is in full effect throughout both shows including stand-out renditions in each show of audience favorites “Tea For Two” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” (both reprised from her triumphant appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.) This DVD is a fitting testimony to one of jazz music’s true originals and shows unequivocally why she is ranked in the top tier of vocalists along with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday.

Wes Montgomery was one of the great jazz guitarists, a natural extension of Charlie Christian, whose appealing use of octaves became influential and his trademark. He achieved great commercial success during his last few years, only to die prematurely. It had taken Wes a long time to become an overnight success. He started to teach himself guitar in 1943 (using his thumb rather than a pick) and toured with Lionel Hampton during 1948-1950; he can be heard on a few broadcasts from the period.

Chet Baker features two concerts by the foremost interpreter of the West Coast school of cool jazz. Filmed in Europe 15 years apart, these two shows seen together provide an overview of Baker’s illustrious career. The first show is a haunting 1964 performance in a Belgian TV studio with a quartet including long-time sidemen saxophonist Jacques Pelzer and French pianist Rene Urtreger. Songs include the Miles Davis classic, “So What,” and the jazz standard “Time After Time” (a very rare rendition featuring Chet’s “Cool” vocal style.) The soulful1979 set from Norway, with a trio featuring vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid, highlights the growth and maturity of this troubled but inspiring artist.