Branford Marsalis Quartet: Coltrane's A Love Supreme Live in Amsterdam
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Movie Reviews of Branford Marsalis Quartet: Coltrane's A Love Supreme Live in Amsterdam
Movie Review: Great DVD - but...
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this DVD after seeing Branford and the quartet playing it live. The sound was dreadful - the drums drowned out everything, so I bought this DVD hoping to actually hear what was going on. Well, the sound is fine, great, in fact; the camera angles don't interfere with the music, the extras, particularly the interview with Alice Coltrane, are excellent, but the reason that I am only giving it three stars is simple - the music just isn't that good.
I decided to write this after seeing that the only negative reviews were written by people who didn't seem to 'get' the music, not those that did, but didn't like it. I am of the latter type. I know Coltrane's music very well, and the band here seem to have missed the point completely. They are not trying to emulate the classic quartet, and all respect to Branford for bringing his own playing into it, it's just that his own playing isn't that good (in this style). Many times in the concert it seems like it's about to take off, but it never does. I have seen Jeff 'Tain' Watts many times, and every time I've seen him he has really lifted the intensity of the music (and the volume). In this performance I can constantly hear him waiting for Branford to throw something his way, but it just doesn't happen. Joey Calderazzo sounds great, maybe too near McCoy for many people's tastes, driving the music, and Eric Revis is rock solid in accompaniment.
At no point in the DVD does Branford go 'out'. This was one of the most important aspects of the original - 'Trane would play something, move it up a fourth, invert it, etc. Dig out the original, 'Trane plays a glorious few bars in 'Resolution', just before he comes in with the melody for the second time. He does a wonderful sort of chromatic ascending thing which works beautifully. There is a section in the original, in the middle of 'Acknowledgement', where 'Trane plays the motif again and again, moving it around the cycle of fourths (sorry about the technical language). Branford also plays this, but where in the original it had been a sort of resting point after the driving intensity of the previous section, in this version it just falls completely flat.
I think that it is admirable that Branford embarked on such an enormous project, and to his credit that it came out sounding like him, but it just doesn't work for me, and it's all his fault. He is a great player, and I have really enjoyed some of his work, he just needs to decide whether he is going to go out there and start taking chances with his music, or whether he is going to continue playing in his own lyrical, almost European-sounding style. It just seems like the wrong thing for him to be playing; better to leave this sort of thing for the true masters of the genre - Liebman, Brecker, and Garrett.
Movie Review: Enjoy just for technicians of jazz
Summary: 1 Stars
I take this title form the video store thinking in Wynton Marsalis.
When I was watching the DVD I can appreciate that the image is very good (not great, and I have a 720p tube TV) and the sound is very good also(not great, I have a reference equipment).
But the show is so boring¡ Look, you just desire this man stop to blow. The drum's solo is just awesome, but the rest of the show is to forgive about it.
Movie Review: A Love Supreme or a Disappointment Supreme
Summary: 1 Stars
I love Branford Marsalis' music. I've been following his stuff for 20 years. When I saw this new DVD a couple months ago, I thought 'what a find'! Unfortunately, it's a bust. It sounds like four guys playing, but none is really listening to any of the others. I'd save my money and pass on this one if I had it to do over.