Archives for May 17, 2006

Coincidentally, on the heels of yesterday’s Rifftides piece about the Legends Of Jazz television series, an e-mail message alerted me to a video performance that demonstrates the visual restraint, taste and directorial discretion that is missing in the Legends series. It is a solo piano performance by Denny Zeitlin of “What Is This Thing Called Love,” preceded by a few minutes of free playing as an introduction. It was videotaped at the 1983 Berlin Jazz Festival, with Zeitlin at a C. Bechstein concert grand.
Just as good writing should make the reader forget that he’s holding a book, good television presentation of music should make the viewer forget that he’s watching television. In the Zeitlin video, the setting, lighting, camera work and director’s shot changes are in partnership with the music, never calling attention to themselves or to production values. Even a cutaway shot of the Bechstein’s inner working makes sense with the improvisation. Pianists interested in Zeitlin’s technique are rewarded with sequences of his long fingers at work, the keyboard shot at a perfect angle for study. Since the subject here is not Zeitlin’s playing, suffice it to say that his improvisation is brilliant. Listen for the recurring Coltrane reference.
The only distracting notes come not from Zeitlin’s piano but from visual plugs for his latest solo album and his website.They momentarily fill the screen while he’s playing and break the spell. It is a minor flaw, but a crucially placed minor flaw. Commerce would have been served less jarringly when the music ends. But it is Zeitlin’s website and his call. To view the video, go here and look for the download instructions for Windows, Mac or iPod. With a broadband connection, the download takes more than a minute.
The full-screen option results in a slight loss of visual quality, but I found that expanding the picture, moving back a few feet from the monitor and cranking up the sound gives a sense almost of being there. To make the picture bigger, click on the box to the left of the X in the upper right corner of the realPlayer window.

Doug:
I watched the Legends of Jazz episode that featured Jim Hall and Pat Metheny and found it disappointing. Jim and Pat and associates played fine–as expected, of course. But the overall “happy talk” tone was rather shallow and not very enlightening; for that, the producers and writers are responsible. Jim’s good-natured grouchiness was a relief.
And for a show that’s supposed to be educating a mostly novice audience about jazz, there were some obvious balls dropped. Like identifying the titles of songs, for example. Only Jim & Pat’s duet on “All the Things You Are” was identified. When Jim played “My Funny Valentine,” couldn’t they have at least printed the title on the screen? These days, you can’t expect an audience under age 60 to know even so-called standards, especially if they’re played rather abstractly.
And wouldn’t it have been nice for someone to introduce bassist Christian McBride and drummer Antonio Sanchez? The only identification they received was in the closing credits, which went zipping by in small print. Again, I fault the producers.
I know that we’re all supposed to be grateful nowadays for getting any jazz on television. But classic jazz TV half-hours like the 1959 Miles Davis & Gil Evans show (produced by Robert Herridge without a superfluous word) have me spoiled. Or the Ralph Gleason Jazz Casual shows. Music shows that don’t seem like game shows.
—Bill Kirchner