Dizzy Gillespie - Sextet '77 - Norman Granz Jazz In Montreux DVD

Advantages: The music, the directing, the performances.
Disadvantages: Very depressing.

...for Parker, and at the same time be repulsed by the self destructive streak that ran through him, maybe that was because he was so shunned from an early age in relation to his innovative music style. We see the young Charlie Parker growing up in the jazz capital (at the time) of the USA, Kansas, picking up his first sax' and then going to watch other saxophonists play and pick up tips, just by watching and listening. We see Parker 'trying out' in the Reno club and getting laughed of stage, only to return later with his own style intact and mature, though if one reads various websites dedicated to Parker, how much truth is in Eastwoods's story is open to question. That he got laughed off seems to be true, how he returned and his style is less clear. The film also portrays Parkers enduring friendship with Dizzy Gillespie though seems to portray... Read review

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Advantages: Another chance to see the Master in concert
Disadvantages: Taken so long to surface

..., open G open D and open E, and that on six electric numbers he plays some of the finest slide guitar you'll ever hear this side of Elmore James or Ry Cooder, sometimes in standard tuning like Jeff Beck. Wonderful. I remember the excellent Ray Coleman in the old Melody Maker (Ray was articulate, literate and intelligent, like Chris Welch of the same paper. These are now unpopular traits)) telling the tale that at one of the Montreux Jazz Festivals, 1975, the famous American jazz guitarist Larry Coryell (of 11th House fame) was jamming around with other jazzers in a noodling way to a very restless crowd. Along came Rory in his checked shirt, jeans and plimsolls and took the riff by the scruff of its neck, set it going, and presided over one of the best impromptu sets of any Montreux Jazz Festival, still remembered as a lifetime high... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent story, deals with important issues
Disadvantages: none

...of the local police turns out to be a Philadelphia police officer Virgil Tibbs who is visiting his mother in the local area. On hearing of the mix up Tibbs's boss in a spirit of co-operation with the town's chief of police decides, much to Tibbs' annoyance, decides to offer Tibbs's help solve the crime since by coincidence Tibbs is an expert homicide investigator. The Sparta chief of Police is initially against the idea but then faced with a crime he has no idea how to solve he reluctantly agrees for Tibbs to help out. Thus begins a strained relationship between the two men as they try to work together against their own prejudices and that of the small community in order to find the killer. CAST, PERFORMANCES AND OPINION Sidney Poitier .... Detective Virgil Tibbs Rod Steiger .... Sparta Chief of Police Bill Gillespie Warren Oates... Read review

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