Night School: An Evening With Stanley Clarke & Friends
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Movie Reviews of Night School: An Evening With Stanley Clarke & Friends
Movie Review: The Man the myth
Summary: 5 Stars
The Man the myth one of the best bassist in history!! A living legend right here!! Buy this DVD dont be a sucker about this one!!! It is a must have trust me!Movie Review: night school
Summary: 5 Stars
awsome dvd of the greatest bass player of all time. great product and fast service.
Movie Review: Still a Bad, Bad Bass Man!....3.5 stars
Summary: 4 Stars
I finally got a chance to sit down and watch this nice, but all too short, performance. Being a big jazz-rock fan and owning most of Stanley's body of work, I knew the first time I saw this advertised, I HAD to have it. Well, I won't say I was dissapointed, just a little baffled by some of what is contained herein (or not contained!). First of all, many of the songs are incomplete....most notably, the ones with S. Wonder (which is probably fine----NOT the high point of this show by any means). The song "Why Wait" listed as track 5 is nowhere to be found in the main content (though it appears in the bonus feature)....sure would have been nice to see Lenny jammin' with Stanley again! As for "Keepers" in this performance, I would say 'Wild Dog', 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat', 'The Lochs of Dread' and the wonderful 'Song to John' (man, do I love that one!). 'The Floor' and 'Big Jam' were enjoyable as well. My biggest problem lies with Stanley's "staple" song....'School Days'. The idea of Stan-the-Man with 10 other bass players and 3 drummers looked very promising when I ordered this, well I knew this tune would be something of an unrehearsed "jam vehicle", but it almost unravels completely in a few places....if pressed, I would say Stewart Copeland contibuted to some of the chaos by playing some stuff (his style) that simply did NOT fit, i.e. the reggae style beat he tries to place within the song, not to mention his sometimes "spastic" fills and beats. Just for the record, I dig Stewart and the grounbreaking drumming he did with the Police, but he should have sat this one out and let the original 'SD' drummer have it....Gerry Brown. All in all, the song is still enjoyable and all the bass "spanking" by the guests is all in good fun. Highlights as far as players goes to Sheila E. with her great drumset/timbale solo; Flea surprised me with a very melodic solo spot in 'SD', as did Billy Sheehan with his very unique, almost dissonant, approach. Also worth mentioning is Bela Fleck and Karen Briggs....VERY nice interplay on 'John's Song'.
Bottom line: I am satisfied with this purchase, and although somewhat lacking in coherency, its all in good fun, as well as a good cause.....It probably won't be a "mainstay" in my player, but when I need my Stanley fix, I'll definitely reach for this. Enjoy!
Movie Review: Spotty, but some music falls out
Summary: 4 Stars
Stanley Clarke's once-firm position among bassists has become ambiguous. Sandwiched by adulation for the lyricism of Jaco Pastorius on one hand and infatuation with the percussion-heavy slap techniques of Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten on the other, Stanley Clarke has been squeezed into a nebulous middle ground.
The problem is that Clarke has proved too eclectic to make his indelible mark either here or there. Not only because of his peripatetic way with the genres--from traditional jazz trio to funk--but because of his divided affinity for the upright and the electric bass.
The music on the DVD "Night School" will do little to better define Clarke as a bassist. His eclecticism on the DVD is as diverse as his entire forty-year canon. But it will do a great deal to reconfirm him as a gifted musician.
In the DVD's finest moment, Clarke reprises his extraordinary version of "Goodbye Porkpie Hat." The tune is one of the finest of Clark's landmark 1980's interpretations, and his performance here is fluid and forceful.
Two numbers with Bela Fleck on banjo and Karen Briggs on violin highlight Clarke as a gifted accompanist who weaves melodic and supportive figures around the flights of his soloists. His dexterity on the upright bass matches Bela Fleck's mastery note-for-note.
One of the most incongruous--and productive--pairings on the CD comes with Clarke sharing the stage with the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Flea. Flea turns in the best supporting performance of the entire show.
The low point of the DVD is an abortive set with Stevie Wonder. Clarke and company struggle to make something of Wonder's stilted and off-canter performance. The groove just is nowhere to be found.
"Night School" suffers from awkward editing and mediocre video, but Clarke overcomes poor production (and some awkwardly configured ensembles) to shine brilliantly.
Movie Review: Very 4 Stars
Stanley has done it again. That cat can play!!!! The sound quality of the DVD is superb and the guests on stage were a treat as well. The only reason that I didn't give it the full 5 stars was that I purchased the DVD to watch Stanley play bass, electric or upright he's phenominal!!! I didn't care to watch him with his back turned to the audience/camera conducting an orchestra playing his movie soundtrack scores, I'd rather see him fill up that time on the DVD with more of him playing!!!! Let's see him play those tunes that he wrote for movie soundtracks, not conduct an orchestra. I could have better tolarated it if it was just one tune maybe, but not however many he had on there. Good finale though, that was a really treat seeing some 10+ bassists play School Days and each have their own solo to show their skills. Flea and especially Billy Sheehan (Buffalo, New York) really impressed me. I was pleasantly surprised with their skills, being a bassist myself, I pretty much loved the whole DVD experience except the conducting.