Chick Corea/Gary Burton
– Interaction (Concert)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C Concert: B
We have reviewed many Jazz titles on this site, including
more than a few aged-looking old analog video concerts, older film compilations
where the footage barely survived and some of the newest concerts to date. Of the many, Interaction, a program
that combines Chick Corea’s piano and Gary Burton’s vibraphone in a great
concert from 1997. These are two
premiere Jazz masters who have been performing together since 1972! Well, practice makes perfect and the
chemistry here is one of the best we have seen on a concert DVD of any music
genre since this site was launched and even before that.
Though I was too familiar with most of the following, I
really enjoyed every one of them and wished the show went beyond 80 minutes,
and that means more than the 80 minutes listed on the back of the case. This actually runs 93 minutes, an error that
does injustice to such a fine release.
Hopefully, Geneon can fix this error in future printings. Still, the following includes:
1) Love
Castle
2) Native
Sense
3) Duende
4) No
Mystery
5) Bagtelle
VI
6) Postscript
7) Bagtelle
II
8) Four In
One
9) Tango
‘92
10) Rhumbata
11) Bud Powell
12) La Fiesta
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on what
looks like early digital High Definition video and looks decent in that, but
does not suffer as much as many such concerts we have seen in the last few
years because the set-up for lighting and color is more basic and the camera
and editing are not as all over the place.
That’s a nice change. The sound
is a choice between Dolby Digital 5.1 with more articulation and depth, or PCM
2.0 16Bit/48kHz Stereo that has some richness and details the Dolby lacks;
typical in so many such pairing we have encountered to date. Dolby 2.0 would have made it worse. Geneon has this policy of issuing a music
DVD-Video this way, with a DTS version sometimes later down the line. This is a prime candidate for such
treatment. Extras include biographical
timelines for both artists and an interview with the well-spoken Corea that
runs a just over 10 minutes, and that is too short. Fortunately, the concert is great fun. Interaction is highly recommended.
- Nicholas Sheffo
