Customer Reviews

Robert Altman's Jazz 34 [VHS]

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This is an exciting and interesting movie on historical Jazz. It also offers a proposal on how to deal with a problem that has never been entirely solved in jazz: how to re-create past music. In classical music you simply play the score, which contains more or less everything. But the essence of jazz is not in the score, but in all those non-objectifiable elements that are not in the score, namely, those collectively called "swing" (that's why the score is not the document in jazz, but only the recorded piece, which glorifies one particular instant).

Hence, how do you solve the problem? Do you play ancient jazz with exactly the same sound and accents (horrible) or do you use modern tricks (maybe kitsch)? Do you repeat note-by-note the original solos or do you play new improvised ones on top of the old arrangements? There have been various attempts: for instance, Lennie Niehaus' system in Clint Eastwood "Bird" to electronically remove ancient rhythm sections and superimpose Parker's solos on new rhythm sections (interesting but terrible). Tavernier with Dexter Gordon in "Round Midnight" skipped the problem and recorded new music.

In "Jazz '34", instead, we have a frech approach: that of letting modern jazzmen interpret those pieces. It is clear they pay their dues to the pioneers - the swing and freshness is there to testify this - but at the same time they are not shy about showing off their modern techniques and mastery of the overtones - especially tenor saxophonists, like Joshua Redman and James Carter, the latter being fond of mingling with the elders. Hence it is as if they had created musically a virtual, parallel Kansas City of 1934, which is distinct from the music of the time but claims the same validity.

Hence, also the re-created battle between Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young (Joshua Redman and James Carter, if not mistaken) on "Yeah, Man" has to be taken with a grain of salt: it's a fantasy, the ancient ones did not play that way, but the relationship between the two, to some degree, holds.

The music is fascinating and stands on its own and its quality is high enough to warrant the purchase of the movie. In addition we have Harry Belafonte's comments, interesting and pleasurable, and some shots of recreated Kansas City in 1934, which are simply fascinating, and from what I know look very authentic (no, I was not there, but Altman was).

I agree with what the other two reviewers said, but I just thought I'd add some of the other musicians that I could think of who are on the movie. Saxophones- Redman, Carter, Craig Handy, David "Fathead" Newman, David Murray Clarinet- Don Byron Trumpet- Olu Dara, Nic Payton Bass- Ray Brown Piano- Geri Allen, Cyrus Chestnut Guitar- Mark Whitfield, Russel Malone These are only a few of the musicians, there's a bunch more and I apologize for not being able to think of the drummers or trombones. Anyways, I know that I always like knowing who is playing on what so I thought I'd pass on what I knew. I hope it was helpful.

Variety called this film the "Olympics of Jazz", and what games they were! Altman assembled the greatest players of today to portray the greatest players of the thirties. This film would not normally be allowed to be made, as the costs would be prohibitve for "just a Jazz film". But since it was shot as performance backgrounds for the feature "Kansas City", Altman was able to make what may well be the greatest Jazz film ever. I'm not saying this because of my involvement (co-producer, editor), but because after seeing the film perhaps two hundred times, I'll still put it on for friends, or just my own enjoyment.

This video is amazing. I have the 2 CD's that go along with this video, and the video further displays the abilities of James Carter and Joshua Redman. They are two amazing sax players and the video shows them dueling in a couple of songs. I definately recomend this tape.

When I found out about this video I was overjoyed and ordered it from Rhapsody Films, the distributor. Oddly enough, it's still in VHS format, as is the parent film, Kansas City, which Altman filmed at the same time. The film itself is great, but the soundtrack and sometimes the videotrack cuts in and out and generally makes for a miserable viewing experience, since the whole purpose is to enjoy the music itself. I have sent back 2 copies received directly from Rhapsody, and a third copy received from a distributor called Looney Zuni Music, because of the problem I mentioned above. Looney Zuni was professional enough to refund the purchase price, but I have gotten the runaround from Rhapsody Films ever since I returned the second defective copy. They won't answer my phone calls and e-mails, and I'm about ready to contact Robert Altman to let him know what's going on with this wonderful film that he made. If anyone can provide a pristine copy I will gladly pay royalties to Mr. Altman as well as the cost of making and shipping this videotape. I said all this to say, don't purchase anything else from Rhapsody Films until the owner cleans up his act.

UPDATE: Since the above review was written, Rhapsody Films has sent me a VHS copy with excellent sound quality, so I am cautiously optimistic that their video offerings in other selections are good as well. I will probably not order from them again because of the problem described above, but if I do purchase one of their products, it will be from a bricks and mortar store, who can then deal with any similar problems that may crop up.

As a saxophone player, since 1956, this video totally blew my mind! I read somewhere, that there were 6 hours of video made. Where's the rest!!! If anyone knows how to get in touch with Robert Altman, tell him, if this true, why not make the rest available. Also, why isn't this on dvd, with better sound, and picture quality?