Customer Reviews

Johnny Griffin and Richie Cole from Village Vanguard

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

 

 

Incredible concert! Some of the most intense jazz Ive heard, well worth the buy. Wish there was a bit more Johnny Griffin to match the Richie Cole, but both groups are just fantastic to watch.

i bought this for the richie cole performance,i had this taped of a public broadcast on beta vcr [believe that]l still have the tape .even tried to find beta vcr at thrift stores just for this tape.then i ran accross this at amazon i wasnt sure it was that performance i loved as a 13 year old.richie cole is an aquired taste to say the least.you either love him or you hate him if you get past the antics,this guys an under valued altoist firmly in the parker tradition.also with a tight band although the bass player doesnt seem to be to ammused.the bonus here for me is the johnny griifin set the little giant doesnt disapoint ,lenghthy performances full of fire , piss and vineager .truth is the cole performance hasnt dated as well as i hoped.[i was 13] but its still amusing.but the griffin performance is the real reason to get this.

This DVD holds two 30 minute programs recorded in 1981 at the Village Vanguard. The first set is tenor sax giant Johnny Griffin with his working quartet, Ronnie Matthews, Ray Drummond, and Kenny Washington. To say that Griffin is exciting is an understatement. Living in Chicago, I got to hear a lot of Johnnie Griffin in the 70s, 80s, and 90s because of the regular visits he made to Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase, and this video really captures the fire that was an everyday part of Griff's music. This may have been the first major gigs for Drummond and Washington, and both have been first call sidemen ever since. I have only one complaint about this set -- it's far too short.

The second program, featuring alto saxophonist Richie Cole, is a lot of fun, but is most notable for the presence of guitarist Bruce Foreman and the very exciting Filipino pianist Bobby Enriquez. Billed as "the wild man of the piano," Enriquez was known on the New York scene as a "piano destroyer," but his solos really sent this band into orbit. Cole's best playing is on a tune they play for grins, "Punishment Blues."

Enriquez and Matthews both died young, so there isn't much of them on video. Both play well here. Picture quality, camera work, and artistic direction are first rate (considering the cramped quarters of the Vanguard's stage), and sound is much better than average, except that the sound balance is erratic (the piano is lost during solos) on the Griffin set, and on both sets the drums sound a bit muffled.

This is a splendid look into the world of first-rate jazz in 1981. The two sets, one with the Johnny Griffin quartet and the other with Rickie Coles' quintet, were filmed at the Village Vanguard in New York. Cole is an enormous talent on alto sax, and his group contains the incredible pianist Bobby Enriquez and the excellent guitarist Bruce Forman. Griffin is a monster tenor player and check out his bassist, Ray Drummond. In a better world, these musicians would be playing in Carnegie Hall rather than Max Gordon's tiny indoor toilet.

The film is slightly flawed in two ways. The sound and film are slightly out of sync. And there is too much Cole and not enough Griffin. Cole's piece "Punishment Blues" is another of his comic efforts. Like his former employer Buddy Rich, Cole thinks he is funny...and isn't.

All jazz fans will want this DVD as both performances are bebop on the highest level.

Ronny Mathews and Bobby Enriquez are my favorite pianist. When I purchase this DVD,
I don't expect Bobby's here. Of course Johnny griffin is hot! Richie Cole plays smart. I strongly recommend this!!