Featured Artist: Quincy Jones & Friends

Jazz CD cover CD Title: 50 Years In Music: Live at Montreux 1996

Year: 2008

Record Label: Eagle Eye Media

Style: Jazz DVD / Video

Review:

Multi-Grammy winning recipient Quincy Jones’ musical legacy can be traced back to his formative days with the Lionel Hampton band, while leaping to notoriety as a film scorer and producer.  Hence, the list goes on.  This DVD captures Jones at a SRO theater during the 1996 Montreux Jazz Fest, with support from the very able Illinois University Jazz band along with a cast of smooth-jazz, pop, rock and jazz soloists/vocalists. 

Jones is the perfect crowd pleaser via his chronologically-oriented historical orations to the audience in-between songs.  In a sense, he acts as his own best cheerleader here, but that’s ok, Jones' artistry offers mass appeal and to a large extent, he’s been a jazz prophet over the years.  True to form, this flick highlights many of his original works and much more. 

The band opens with a laid-back, mid-tempo swing groove of Jones original comp, penned when he was eighteen years old, titled “Kingfish.”  Moreover, jazz/pop diva Patti Austin sings on a few tracks.  While soul-blues rock vocalist Mick Hucknall turns in an inspiring performance during Jones’ “In the Heat of the Night,” which of course he composed for the Oscar winning film of the same name.  Appearances by smooth-jazz sax hero David Sanborn, harmonica great Toots Thielemans and diva Chaka Khan are among the star-studded cast who appear with the orchestra. 

Overall, this DVD highlights Jones’ musicality and persona, but also parleys his acute ability to seamlessly morph various genres into a jazz state of mind.  It’s a mainstream, feel-good set of performances, spiced with a touch of Hollywood-like glitz.  Yet, Jones is a communicator of good-cheer, where his vast accomplishments within the entertainment industry are the type of stuff that dreams are made of. 

Running Time: 132 mins approx.



Tracks: 1) Kingfish 2) Stockholm Sweetnin' (with David Sanborn) 3) Perdido (with Patti Austin) 4) The Midnight Sun Will Never Set (with David Sanborn) 5) Tickle Toe (with James Morrison) 6) Moanin' (with James Morrison) 7) Shiny Stockings (with Patti Austin) 8) Airmail Special (with Gerald Albright, James Morrison & David Sanborn) 9) In The Heat Of The Night (with Mick Hucknall) 10) Everything Must Change (with Mick Hucknall & Chaka Khan) 11) Grace Notes (with Toots Thielemans) 12) Walking In Space (with Patti Austin, Gerald Albright, James Morrison & David Sanborn) 13) After You've Gone (with Phil Collins) 14) Miss Celie's Blues (with Brody Buster & Chaka Khan) 15) Dirty Dozens (with Patti Austin & Chaka Khan) 16) Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song) (with Patti Austin & Toots Thielemans) 17) Angel (with Mick Hucknall) 18) Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me (with Gerald Albright & Phil Collins) 19) Brown Ballad (with Toots Thielemans) 20) Let The Good Times Roll (with Gerald Albright, Brody Buster, Phil Collins, Mick Hucknall, Chaka Khan & Claude Nobs) BONUS FEATURES Quincy Jones in Conversation at Montreux in 2007.

Record Label Website: http://www.eaglerockent.com

Reviewed by: Glenn Astarita

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