Lullaby Of Harlem (Music Compilation)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Music: B-
In the Passport/Koch series of continuing series of older,
archival music DVDs, Lullaby Of Harlem is unique in that the songs are
not broken down like music videos and that they are unified by a theme. Here, with a clever cover of the actual
Cotton Club (reminding us of how legalities have held up the director’s cut of
Coppola’s film on DVD to this day) is a throwback to those days when Harlem was
a vital cultural center. The claim is
that all the footage was filmed at either that landmark, the Apollo Theater or
the Savoy Ballroom. Another deviance is
that the tracks are not listed on the box. The songs and performers include:
1) The
Delta Rhythm Boys – A Train
2) Louis
Jordan – Let The Good Times Roll
3) Dizzy
Gillespie – One Bass Hit
4) Count
Basie – Basie’s Boogie
5) Billie
Holiday – God Bless The Child
6) Billie
Holiday – Now Baby Or Never
7) Louis
Armstrong – Swingin’ On Nuthin’
8) Cab
Calloway – Minnie The Moocher
9) The
Mills Brothers – Lazy River
10) Nat King Cole Trio – Errand
Boy For Rhythm
11) Fats Waller – Ain’t
Misbehavin’
12) Duke Ellington – Cottontail
13) Billy Eckstine – I Want To
Talk About You
14) Louis Armstrong – You Rascal You
15) The Delta Rhythm Boys –
Undecided
16) Count Basie – Count ‘Em
17) Dizzy Gillespie – He Beeped
When He Should Have Bopped
One thing this set does not deviate from is that it is
under an hour, barely 50 minutes at that, which always holds back what would
otherwise be sets that would get higher ratings if only they had more
content. It would have even been better
with such a unifying theme. I really
liked what they did here. The only
distraction was that a voiceover man announces each performer, which is
annoying. This is made worse by not
identifying each song. If you are going
to do something, do it right please!
The picture varies throughout like these sets usually do,
especially in the case of footage so old, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
also average, but captures the sound about as good as its compression is going
to be able to. There are no extras, but
in this case, only the chapter selection (and this review) will identify all
the songs. But the music is the thing
here and some very vital performers are doing some of their greatest work in
shockingly peak form. Lullaby Of
Harlem is one of the best passport music compilations to date.
- Nicholas Sheffo
