Customer Reviews

The Jazz Channel Presents Kenny Rankin (BET on Jazz) [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a music lover that owns over 2,000 albums/cds ranging from Sinatra to Bill Withers (2 of my all-time favorites) and everywhere between. I'm not into rap at all. Not big on country (though I think singer/songwriter Jimmy Webb is brilliant). I believe that Kenny Rankin is one of the most underappreciated vocalists of all time. His voice is awsome. I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform live about 6 times, mostly in the past 5 years. He was absolutely terrific! I find this recent dvd and cd very enjoyable. Buy it. Better yet, catch one of his live shows. You will LOVE him. I also suggest you visit his web site at kennyrankin.com. Once there you can view his guest book where you will read comments from thousands of fans that are nuts about him. Not too long ago Tony Bennett was having a tough time connecting with the huge base of fans that he now enjoys. I'm happy for him because I think he's great. I wish that Kenny might enjoy a resurgence in popularity similar to Mr. Bennett's because--Kenny Rankin is a rare and gifted artist!

Sincerely,

Chris Carson
Chicago

Kenny Rankin brings to mind James Taylor, with guitar chops. Frankly, his voice is so effortless and beautiful, not much else matters.

I disagree with the other reviewers that this DVD is so well recorded. The guitar sounds dead and the string quartet is too loud. But it does not matter! He has THE voice, in the same way that Sarah Vaughan and Eva Cassidy did. Effortless. Perfect.

Frankly, I think a lot of this was lost on the BET audience. (They're probably still angry about having to sit through Kenny G).

Even if you've never heard of Kenny Rankin, if you like people who don't sound there's any effort at all (and he's never had a lesson) pick up this DVD.

Along with James Taylor, Eva Cassidy and a few others Kenny is an American musical treasure.

Each time I've seen Kenny Rankin at the Bottom Line in New York, I've come away amazed by this man's stunning voice. This DVD does not disappoint. His poignant interpretations continue to touch me year after year. I bought a DVD player, just for this performance - I'm glad I did!

I have been lucky enough to see Rankin many times, the latest being a few months ago.

This DVD is a live concert, pure Rankin.

Great backup band and the interview with him is superb as well.

This is a must have DVD for all Kenny Rankin fans. I find myself somewhat envious of the people that were there for the performance. This feeling is somewhat mollified by the fact that this is the best sounding DVD I've ever encountered, bar none. The musicians, the cameramen and the sound engineers all did a superb job, and I recommend it to everyone.

Kenny Rankin is one of those truly identifible musicians. Two notes and you know who he is. A master of reinterpretation with a voice that is flexible with an extraordinary range. One of the most melliflous voices I've ever heard. He has this way of taking almost any song and making it a Kenny Rankin song. Over the years he's only gotten better.

This DVD shows him with an outstanding small group and string section. David Finck and Joe Beck are amazing on this recording on bass and guitar respectively.

Kenny is at home in both the jazz, pop or popular standard genres. He has a unique vision. He takes a song like "More Than You Know" and does it in a way in a whole new way accentuating notes and phrases with subtlety.

This performance is fresh, vital and he does this music in a state of bliss, or so it comes across. He also shows himself to be quite the guitar player. Very good technique.

You can't go wrong getting this. This DVD is what good concerts are about. A good solid group, extraordinary vocalist in an intimate setting with songs coming to life in that unique Kenny Rankin way.

I also enjoyed the interview portion of this DVD, it was very well done.

This is about as mellow and pleasant as you'll find in a nightclub "act." Kenny has to be one of the more relaxed, down-home singers I've seen. He talks to you as if it's just you and he face to face, commenting briefly before each song. He not only has a pleasing manner but a very pleasing, soft voice.

The songs are all mellow, with just Kenny, his guitar and a bass player here, a pianist there or soft drumming. This is nice, light jazz when you want to chill.

It's nice....real nice.

I'm a big Kenny fan. Like other reviewers, I think he's vastly underrated (in the same vein as Michael Franks, Al Jarreau, Fran Sinatra). But Kenny's got a much better voice. He moves across octaves without the obvious breaks that mere mortals have.

This is clearly a good CD. But, like most live albums, this doesn't sound as good as it could. The issue is one of the superior recording quality of a studio.

So, for straight sound quality, pick up a studio CD (my favorites are the most recent jazz work -- Because of You, Professional Dreamer, and Here in My Heart. To appreciate what he can do live, this DVD or the "Bottom Line Encore" CD will get you eagerly waiting for him to make an appearance in your town (unlikely. For concert appearance check out kenny.rankin.com).

As a college professor, with a love of music of all kinds, and a proud owner of several Kenny Rankin discs - I hope to buy them all - I played a portion of this concert to one of my classes and then played his stunning, classic version of "Blackbird" to another class. At this time, the Fall of 2009, I was not aware that Mr. Rankin, one of the best vocalists of the 20th (and 21st) Century had passed during the previous summer. I just wanted to share his work to an intelligent, open-minded group of students in their late teens who had never heard of this man before. They were both moved and impressed! They sat still, though class was ending, as we watched ad listened to "Haven't We Met?" in this very DVD - a MUST for anyone who is a Rankin fan if you never exeperienced him in concert, and even if you did - and I could tell they gladly would have stayed for more. There is no one who sings like Kenny Rankin - one of his mentors, Laura Nyro, comes close, in her own beauty, passion and grace evident in Rankin's singing. This DVD is from a Jazz Channel concert and, while by no means does it give you everything this man crafted with such care over the years, it certainly gives you the kind of modest, intimate concerts Mr. Rankin gave throughout the years, concerts that offered his great talent with the guitar (from the 1950's which he always used) and piano. And classics such as "Peaceful" and others. I am so blessed to have seen him in December 2005, at Fairfield Theatre Co, CT, front row, where he played, sang, and offered amusing and tender insights to his life, career and family. He was a New Yorker, tough, but tender, and with a voice that Paul McCartney said delivered some of the best versions of the Beatles songs. Please check out his live CD from the Bottom Line as well. I write this with great honor - and incredible sadness - because I had hoped to see him perform again live soon. I remember, at evening's end, in '05, there was Mr. Rankin, who had played for millions in his lifetime, sitting quietly alone at a table, offering his autograph and kind words to his audience. His was a brilliant, beautiful, singular talent and this beautifully shot DVD does him every justice. It is beyond "5 stars". So was Mr. Rankin. So was the incredible, timeless music he created.

We've loved Kenny Rankin for decades, but he doesn't tour as much as he used to and it's hard to get to see him live. This DVD is the next best thing. Lots of your favorites of his, good but not intrusive backup group and a well filmed presentation. Something to watch over and over.