Customer Reviews

Monterey Jazz Festival: 40 Legendary Years

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

If you are expecting some wonderful vintage performances from this disc, you are wasting your time. There are no musical performances on this disc. Just a bunch of people talking about the history of the festival. Instead of getting to watch Mile Davis or Lady Day, we are treated to a discussion with the lady who put the rolls of toilet paper in the johns!!DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! This was a true disappointment.

Seeing this documentary was a complete disapoitment.I was expecting to see live performances of the jazz artists that are shown in the dvd cover, but felt like a complete idiot when I didn't hear a single note of music. I think that they should mention that there's no music in the disc.It was a complete waste of money.

This disc was a monumental disappointment. I was expecting not only great live clips, but also some good structured commentary. Instead, this disc is packed with short, unrevealing clips and weak, poorly scripted commentary. This is one DVD I really regret buying--and that says a lot for me. Seeing Jon Hendricks as a guest lecturer in a jazz history class at my University was more interesting than the footage they provided of him on this disc. What a TOTAL waste of money and time. Stay away from this DVD if you can help it. For a much better example of what a jazz performance/documentary should be like, check out Monk's "Straight No Chaser", available on both VHS and DVD. Cheaper and a much better way to spend your money.

Just want to add my two bits as a warning to anyone who may not have got the point from the other reviewers (unlikely). Thia can only have been some kind of ego trip for Clint - it doesn't score as either a jazz performance compilation or as a documentary of the festival.

What hurts - heartbreakingly, gutbustingly hurts - is that there ARE hours of performance footage extant from Monterey (and, no, I don't mean 2 minutes of Cannonball in "Play Misty For Me"). Surely someone could buy the rights to this stuff and make a REAL Monterey DVD?

NO STARS!!This review will be totally redundant as it's all been said but I'm actually enjoying joining in trashing this bogus pomp more than watching it! Sure wish I had read just a couple of these reviews (the first all negative reviews I've seen on a topic I'm interested in)before I picked this turkey up. A lot of very uninteresting, boring, behind the scenes stuff that drags on forever! It says "vintage performances" HA! A few seconds of footage with elevator "jazz" instead of what you're glimpsing. It also says "And What about Ella, Louis, Dizzy, Sarah, Dave, Monk, Clark Terry even Lady Day?" THAT'S WHAT I'D LIKE TO KNOW CLINT. Forget this and get Bert Stern's Excellent "Jazz On A Summer's Day".

I purchased that DVD to see and to hear jazz music, instead ofthat I saw and I heard a lot of people saying how good were those 40years.

This is the WORST jazz documentary I've ever seen. It happened to be the first DVD I ever bought - what a nightmare! Not how one should start off their collection. It's trash. Not worth the money it's printed on. To be honest, it sounds more like a sales pitch for the festival than an actual documentary - it tries to get you "excited" about what you'll watch. I ended up FF through it waiting to see some live songs - nothing....

AVOID at all costs...

Clint Eastwood should be ashamed to have executive produced such a piece of garbage. The other reviews are on the money. I was so disappointed in how falsely the cover art and commentary (mis)represent the actual content of this video that I complained to Warner Home Video and forced Circuit City to let me exchange the DVD for a different one. If you're looking to hear some good Jazz, look elsewhere.

I echo everyone else's sentiments about this DVD. It's not
for Jazz fans. I don't know who the intended audience is. But if
you're expecting to see some complete performances from this legendary festival, look elsewhere. If you want informative commentary about the music, look elsewhere.

The title is very misleading. Lots of talk and not even a complete performance by a single artist. This title was a waste of time and money.