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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]