Customer Reviews

We Remember Bird: Berlin & London 1964

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We have here a great pair of performances from some great artists. With no reviews, I hesitated to get this one, glad I went ahead and dove in. The first set was recorded in Berlin and is of top shelf rendering in 1964. Panning around the stage, great well timed close ups, sharp and clean, this is great. The second set is of lesser quality in it's visual acuity, but the actual performance is way hotter in this less formal setting. You have the great Sonny Stitt and a rare chance to see and hear J. J. Johnson at their best. The entire crew is top notch, and in this second set Howard McGhee on trumpet, a name you don't see a lot of, really stands out here. The rest of the crew is Walter Bishop Jr. on piano, Tommy Potter on bass, and last but not least Kenny Clarke on drums. This is a must have addition to your library.

Two of the all-time giants. Some will require no more than this priceless record of their musicianship. Others may find it of interest to get the personal perspective of a lifetime admirer of both individuals and their remarkable musicianship. After beginning to collect Sonny's Roost sessions, it was especially tempting to view him as the instrumental equivalent of a Crosby or Sinatra. Yet time and again, the name "Sonny Stitt" failed to produce looks of recognition (even from musicians) or provoked misguided criticisms ("he's a grab-bag of Bird licks"; "he plays the tonic note at the end of every phrase," etc.). To my mind, you didn't need a video to understand why either was the unequaled master of his ax (make it 2 horns for Sonny). But seeing them in person helps in understanding their personalities, temperaments, struggles, moods. Both had tremendous wills and demanding work ethics. J. J. was orderly, consistent, immaculate; Sonny could frequently fall off the wagon, but he knew the price and paid it in time to make the next flight and the next job, without fail. He could be warm and friendly but equally irascible, short-tempered, and snarly. And it didn't matter if it was you or Miles that he was expressing his displeasure toward (he spent 6 months with Miles after Trane's departure, but would have none of Miles' modes or pronounced atonality). The '60s were schizophrenic for him. For a while, the B3 and the tenor (esp. when Don Patterson handled the former) played at their most "soulful" seemed like the answer. But then there was the regrettable "Selmer Varitone" period (about 4 years during the late '60s). Then a period when he would spit his mouthpiece out between phrases while rolling his eyes in his head and lifting his left knee, still managing to set up for the next phrase. In the '70s he ignored disco, Miles, fusion, electronics and went back to what he did best--bringing the alto back into his act, saying adieu to the Hammond, playing the lone gunslinger, going from town to town in search of rhythm sections and potential tin horns for a cutting contest. Finally, he went out near the top of his game.

Some musicians and critics don't get Sonny. Maybe, despite those 150 albums credited to him, he deserves to be regularly ignored in all of the Down Beat critics' polls and perennially denied "hall of fame" consideration. I simply disagree, while at the same time conceding that he had his favorite "licks" and was an artist who loved "closure," making his statements as complete, whole, and perfect as humanly possible. He knew the American Songbook like Sinatra, and like his inspiration Art Tatum, he stuck to the melody--like Art, playing three of them all at once: the main one, the countermelodies, the linkages between phrases and choruses. Always (well, most of the time) with crispness, completeness, precision along with the truest, least cluttered and most embodied sound possible, enhanced by expressive articulations and dynamics. Sonny was quoted as saying you should "play simple, like Art Tatum, whose main idea was to entertain the people." I don't think he was being ironic.

This is a video that will educate some, confirm a lifelong passion for others, and hopefully cause some former doubters to reconsider their positions about Stitt (the "most perfect saxophonist" of them all, I like to call him). If you're intrigued by the performance of this complementary pair, you may wish to check out the same players on "Tribute to Charlie Parker," a live Newport recording on BMG. Also, "Sonny Side Up" has become virtually a mandatory session, featuring continually invigorating exchanges between Stitt and Sonny Rollins ("Eternal Triangle" is as satisfying a tenor battle as you're like to hear on record).

There's a memorable moment when J. J. forgets that it's Sonny's turn to solo. Sonny just stares at him with a bemused look, until J. J. realizes his faux pas. Sonny's eyes seem to be saying, "Who are you kidding? I could just stand here silent and make more music than you guys." Of course, it's not mean-spirited, and certainly not without good-humored understanding between the two musicians. Oscar Peterson continually talks about performance as a kind of "blood sport," and credits Barney Kessel's early spankings of him on the bandstand for making him a better musician. Viewing this performance becomes all the more pleasurable as you become aware of the musicians' competitive instincts as well as their harmonious complicity. Music is about tension and release, and in the end the only real winner is the listener, privileged in this instance to witness such sweet thunder.

There are six great reasons to buy this DVD -- JJ Johnson, Howard McGhee, Kenny Clarke, Walter Bishop, Sonny Stitt, and Tommy Potter! They are gathered here to remember and honor the music if Charlie Parker, and all but Stitt played in bands that he led. There are two performances that total about one hour, the first recorded in a German TV studio, the second in Britain a few weeks later during he same tour. All are playing really well here, but for me, the highlights are hearing and seeing JJ, McGhee, and Bishop, especially in the Berlin segment. Stitt and JJ both worked around Chicago when I was living there, but I never got to see the other four musicians on this video. For this reason alone it's a wonderful time capsule.

Sound and picture quality are a mixed bag -- the sound mix is erratic, especially in Britain, where piano, bass, and drums are heard clearly only when they are soloing (and sometimes not even then), and where both trumpet and trombone suffer from distortion that puts an unpleasant fuzz around them. I've heard this problem from BBC productions of jazz on other DVDs -- they didn't do well with jazz in these years.

In Berlin engineers produced much cleaner sound and sharper video, but the production department went nuts with a crazily busy set that only the designer's mother could love, and the director went overboard moving his cameras around. The result is pretty distracting visually. As in Britain, drums and bass are muffled and hard to hear. That's sad, since, as the liner notes observe, Clarke is generally considered, along with Max Roach, the father of bebop drummers, and immigrated to Europe in the 50s where he lived the rest of his life, essentially unheard by American audiences.

Those technical deficiencies aside, the performances captured on this DVD are first rate, and it is highly recommended. To my ear, JJ is playing better in Berlin, McGhee is playing a bit better in Britain, and while Stitt is the headliner, is playing well, and gets the most solo space, I find his playing less compelling than the others.

Really good! The musicians look to be really enjoying themselves, and you almost feel like you are sitting in on a private performance among friends. You can really get a feel of what it was like to hear this music live. I like the joke they played on Stitt where J.J. Johnson acts like he forget about him when his turn came to solo. Enjoyable!

I prefer to listen to Stitt on Alto, which he play's all through these performances. J.J. Johnson , the father of modern Jazz Trombone. Howard Mc Gee an excellent underated Trumpet player, Walter Bishop Jr, one of my favorite Bop type Jazz pianist. Tommy Potters big bass sound and the father of modern Jazz drumming,Kenny Clark. If you like this type of Jazz, then you should be pleased with this music. I've played this 60 minute DVD at least 3 times with in the last 2 week's. Tunes;'BUZZY"(2),"MY LITTLE SUEDE SHOES", "LOVER MAN" (2),"NOW'S THE TIME"(2) Recorded in 1964. P.S. I also recommend the greatest Bop sextet of all time;Charlie Parker;"All Star Sextet" (My opinion). the CD is with Bird,Miles,J.J.,Duke Jordan,Potter,Max recorded in 1947, It's flawless !