Product Details

• Actors: The Manhattan Transfer
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 1, 2000
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305836752
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,458 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Manhattan Transfer flex their jazz muscles in this 80-minute, 19-song concert, recorded over two nights in Tokyo in 1986. The quartet (Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel, Alan Paul, and Cheryl Bentyne) were touring in support of their hit Vocalese album, and much of the show is devoted to that style, which consists of singing words over existing jazz instrumentals. Tunes by Woody Herman, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, and others feature lyrics by Jon Hendricks, one of the pioneers of vocalese; it's a bravura performance, with all four singers effortlessly negotiating the torrents of words and tricky melodies. The remainder of the concert includes several Transfer favorites, like "Birdland," "Java Jive," and "The Boy from New York City," and features enough costume and set changes to sustain visual as well as musical interest. All in all, a satisfying set sure to appeal to Manhattan Transfer devotees. --Sam Graham

Product Description

Vocal magicians extraordinaire, The Manhattan Transfer--Cheryl Bentyne, Tim Hauser, Alan Paul and Janis Siegel--show their unique skills in this spectacular performance live at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Songs: Four Brothers, Rambo, Meet Benny Baily, Airegin, To You, Sing Joy Spring, Move, That's Killer Joe, The Duke of Dubuque, Gloria, Heart's Desire, Birdland, On the Boulevard, Shaker Song, Java Jive, Blue Champagne, How High the Moon, Boy From New York City, Ray's Rockhouse.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good show, but can we get a more current one?, March 3, 2002

By 

John S. Harris "The Voice of Reason" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Manhattan Transfer - Vocalese Live 1986 (DVD)

This is the DVD release of a 1986 show from Japan. This was released on VHS and Cassette in the late 1980's. Fans of The Manhattan Transfer know that their talents and body of work is nearly unsurpassed, so why do we have only one DVD concert of them, and why did we have to dig back over 15 years to get it? There is nothing really wrong with this concert DVD (aside from the fact that the 80's hairdos and stage costumes look really silly now), but their fanbase should be large enough by now to warrant releasing a more recent slate of shows. In this show's defense, the material on their "Vocalese" album (which this show was part of a tour to promote) is extremely difficult to sing live, and the Transfer manage to pull it off without missing a beat.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is a poor indication of the group's quality,, December 30, 2000

By 

Kenneth S. Frebowitz (Dresher, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manhattan Transfer - Vocalese Live 1986 (DVD)

though not their fault. The production of the DVD is almost amatuerish. The visuals are impeccable, but when you buy a music DVD, you hope for quality of sound as well. This sound seems to have been recorded using a microphone hung in the middle of the auditorium. Frequently, the vocals are uninteligible, drowned out by the back-up group. If you have ever seen them in concert, you know what a treat the experience is. In this case, however, the effort of the group is evident but the results of the recording are disappointing at best.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seeing Is Believing, June 1, 2005

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Manhattan Transfer - Vocalese Live 1986 (DVD)

Manhattan Transfer has now been performing for an amazing 36 years (26 for Cheryl Bentyne), and it's doubtful they'll ever top "Vocalese," the dazzling recording on which they manage to execute John Hendricks' Joycean transcriptions of Clifford Brown-Sonny Rollins' solos without missing a beat. So challenging is the repertory on this particular set that I would have imagined some "creative" studio editing was responsible for the final product. Imagine again. This live concert filmed in Japan is living proof of the utter technical precision of the group not to mention its showmanship and stage-savvy choreography.

The highlights are Sonny Rollin's "Airegin" and, my personal favorite, Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring" (retitled "Sing Joy Spring"). Almost equally enjoyable are Thad Jones' "To You" and, of course, Joe Zawinul's "Birdland." Much of the remainder of the program falls under the category of "classic rock." I confess to fast-forwarding through much of this material, even though it's clearly a crowd pleaser with the Japanese and, to be fair, it gives the group a chance to "de-pressurize" a bit.

Certainly this is the crowning, unmatchable visual documentary of the group at its peak and should be sought out. Be careful, however, that you don't initially order (as I did) the shortened, overly produced "music video" version, also entitled "Vocalese." And disregard the preceding reviews. The repertory and sound quality are both just fine.

Some fans of jazz have traditionally dissed groups like Manhattan Transfer (or Lambert, Hendricks & Ross or the Four Freshmen) on the grounds that it's less jazz than "copy cat" music performed by non-musicians (i.e. vocalists). Bassist Charles Mingus was perhaps the most outspoken critic of such attempts to "transcribe" jazz into "vocalese." Whether or not these four exceptional singers are jazz musicians or jazz "ambassadors," all I know is that they've given me pleasure and inspired me to return to the originals.

The group has had a tremendous run, but before they run out of transfers and pull into the last station, I hope they record some more jazz transcriptions--preferably Mingus tunes like "Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat," "Fables of Faubus," "Pithecanthropus Erectus," and "Better Git It in Your Soul." (I can hear Mingus tap dancing in his grave.)