DVD Videos

In their series of Jazz greats, Arthaus Musik releases a DVD of the second part of a jazz night with famed sax player Archie Shepp and his Quartet. The concert took place in Turin in 1977.

Archie Shepp was a popular topic of conversation among jazz fans during the 1970s as it was becoming increasingly clear that a profound change was taking place in his approach to music and even his physical appearance. For years he had been the embodiment of black resistance, dressing in traditional African garments and protesting against the suppression of black people. But now he was wearing suits and had given up his free style of playing in favour of interpretations of well-known pieces from the jazz tradition.

Inevitably, the changes upset some people and pleased others. But Shepp never made it easy for people to judge him, and ignoring the talk he continued along the straight path, which had already led him to a place among the jazz greats while he was still a young man. Actually Shepp did not really break with his musical past. Before he became an avant-gardist Shepp played R&B and modern jazz and – as the younger Shepp once said: “New Jazz is no different from old jazz. There is really nothing new in it, if you set aside a message that couldn’t have been formulated earlier. This message is the truth. New Jazz tells the story of a people’s suffering. It talks about emancipation, the destruction of the ghettos, fascism. I’m a black jazz musician, a black father, an anti-fascist.” And in interview with jazz journalist Christian Broecking in 1993 he explained: “When I played Free Jazz, that pleased a lot of critics. But it’s a music black people as good as never hear. Then when I turned more to my people, the grumble started up that my audience was entirely white. Added to that, I’d always had a clear message for Afro-Americans, and still have, but I never reached them.”

Nothing could underline the continuity in Shepp’s career more effectively than the 1977 concert with Siegfried Kessler, Cameron Brown and Clifford Jordan, now being issued by Arthaus Musik in cooperation with Italian Television RAI.

Sound Format: PCM Mono

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 5, PAL

Menu Language: GB

Running Time: 68 mins

FSK: 0

On 24 May 1990, Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell and Biréli Lagrène, each known for their ground-breaking accomplishment on electric and acoustic guitars, joined forces at Nightstage in Cambridge, Massachusetts for an extraordinary evening of acoustic music. Percussionists Arto Tuncboyaci and Gumbi Ortiz, accent this rare musical meeting along with special guest guitarist Chris Carrington. The performance adds new dynamic and rhythmic dimensions to such traditional Al Di Meola favourites as Mediterranean Sundance or Spain, a familiar tune by Chick Corea, and PSP by Larry Coryell – all stirring renditions of classic jazz standards by a trio of superstars!

Sound Format: DD 5.1/DTS 5.1/LPCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 5, NTSC

Menu Language: GB

Running Time: 60 mins

FSK: 0

Jerome Robbins (choreography)

Music by Robert Prince

The first film conceived, created, produced and danced by dancers from the New York City Ballet, this modern-day narrative film adaptation of the 1958 Jerome Robbins' ballet of the same name takes the original choreography (by the legendary creator of West Side Story) and returns it to the streets of New York in this abstract tale of disaffected urban youth set to a rousing jazz score. Shot on anamorphic 35mm on location all over New York City with a cast of dancers from the New York City Ballet.

NTSC 16:9, PCM Stereo,

Dolby Digital 5.1

1 DVD, 46min

Booklet : Eng, Fr

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