Jeanie Bryson – Live At Warsaw Jazz Festival
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Concert: C+
It takes
guts for any artist to go on stage and give an entire concert, no matter how
talented or used to doing so it may be.
I thought of this as Jeanie Bryson went on stage in her 1991 Warsaw Jazz Festival performance. Singing standards like Body & Soul, I’ve Got A
Crush On You and Our Love Is Here To
Stay, she is comfortable enough.
However, that does not mean the concert came together quite as it should
have.
I found
it fascinating to watch the lady handle herself through the 9 song set (with
three more bonus elsewhere on the DVD) giving it her classy best. However, there is something straight jacketed
here like Aretha Franklin at Columbia
in the 1950s, something that just never takes off. She has a fine voice, and know I am not
making any comparison to Miss Franklin one way or the other. It is just that sometimes, things to do work
out as planned, no matter what we do and this was one of those nights. It would be nice to compare to another
concert though.
The 1.33
X 1 image was shot on weak analog video and has detail and even color
consistency issues. This is also softer
than one would like. Even when she is
good, the performance gets in the way.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is weak and the 2.0 Dolby worse. The combination is difficult to enjoy. Extras include three bonus tracks with the
same exact playback quality. Her
performance of Over The Rainbow is,
as we usually would say in just about all cases, is unnecessary.
- Nicholas Sheffo
