Dejohnette, Hancock, Holland and Metheny - Live in Concert

Starring:Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Pat Metheny
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

DeJohnette, Hancock, Holland, Metheny in Concert is a feature-length (98 minutes) release edited from two concerts given by the jazz superstar lineup of Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, and Pat Metheny at the Mellon Jazz Festival held in the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on June 23, 1990. This was part of an outstanding world tour following drummer DeJohnette's Parallel Realities album, though this program and the original album have only two cuts in common, "Indigo Dreamscapes" and "Nine over Reggae." Hancock (piano and keyboards) and Metheny (guitar) were both on Parallel Realities, but here they contribute material from their own back catalog: Hancock a barnstorming 15-minute "Hurricane" and the closing "Cantaloupe Island," Metheny the appropriately nocturnal and reflective "The Bat." Bassist Dave Holland, who was the guest on the tour, wrote the longest cut, "Shadow Dance." Here are four of the world's finest modern jazz artists at the top of their game; virtuoso playing certainly, but also impeccable taste and artistry, seamless interaction, and inspired music-making. When combined with a transparent, gimmick-free visual style, which simply shows the musicians playing (concentrated on whoever is soloing), the result is an uplifting, exhilarating example of how well jazz can be presented on DVD. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk

Description

Jack DeJohnette - Drums, Herbie Hancock - Keyboards, Dave Holland - Bass, Pat Metheney - Guitars. For the first time, these four masterful musicians come together to form a jazz group most people would never expect to see happen. Taking their collaborations around the world, they toured Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States, performing concerts and festivals to sold out audiences and rave reviews. On June 23, 1990, this extraordinary group performed two concerts at the Mellon Jazz Festival at the Philadelphia Academy of music. Both shows were filmed and have been carefully edited to create a technically flawless video of a truly "once in a lifetime" event. All of the songs were selected with great care, as might be expected from a band of this caliber. Including "Shadow Dance", a Dave Holland original; "Solar", a popular Miles Davis original; "Blue" is an original piece by Jack DeJohnette, and "Cantaloupe Island", the closing number of the program, is a Herbie Hancock original from the 60's. Formatted for DVD 16 x 9.

Customer Reviews:

A great jam session.......2006-12-20

This DVD was one of the best jazz concerts I've seen in a long time. I heard the group traveled Japan and Canada along w/ the US.
The concert starts out with Shadow Dance. Dejohnette comes out and plays a little drums. Then Holland comes out and jams on his upright. His acoustic mics are unbelievable. The upright sounds as good as his Fender, if not better.
Then, Herbie comes out and tickles the keyboards. Finally, Metheny comes out and starts playing an old fashion Synth Guitar. His playing was superb.
My only question (it's not a critique) was on "9 Over Reggae". The song starts with some kind of synth sound. I assumed it came from Metheny because Herbie was playing the acoustic piano. Anyway, Metheny starts playing his Gibson with a natural guitar sound, but the synth track kept playing. When you buy the DVD, ask yourself who was playing that synth track on the song "9 Over Reggae".
The DVD ends with Cantaloupe Island. Metheny starts the solo on Hancock's song. When the song ended, I wished they'd perform more songs during the curtain call. No such luck. I practically watch this DVD every day. I've had it for five days. If you don't have it, go ahead and buy it. You'll love the concert.

Excellent.......2006-11-04

Very special concert with my favorite artist. I was very satisfied by the musicianship as well as the over all production and quality of this dvd. I also purchased a copy for a friend. Peace!

The Quintessential Jazz Concert DVD.......2005-11-08

The concert starts out with Jack de Johnette coming out on stage and beginning the concert with a drum solo. Jack de Johnette is quite the legend in terms of jazz drumming, and he has been a top name in that area for at least the past twenty years. Along with Billy Cobham and Dave Weckyl, Jack de Johnette is one of the top jazz drummers of today. He can really groove! His solo that begins the concert is flamboyant yet reserved, patterned within what appears to be chaos, and it swings quite well.

After about three minutes of playing, he is joined by Dave Holland on the "upright", or acoustic bass. I don't know much about Dave Holland, but have heard the name before.
He performs superb "walking bass" lines on the upright bass, and he and the drummer really form the backbone of the rhythm section here, and they swing quite well together.

Then Herbie Hancock comes out on stage, and gets down to "business" on his grand piano. Herbie Hancock has always been a favorite of mine, from the early days of his pioneer fusion band in the 1970s (the "head hunters"), to his days of fame with the "rockit" band in the 1980s, Herbie Hancock has shown a wide range in his varied career.
Here in this concert, he returns to his traditional jazz roots, and plays really excellently.

Then it's Metheny's turn. Pat comes out on stage and picks up his electric guitar, and begins to play as the three back him up. Metheny plays with flamboyance and full of jazz authority and sophistication here. The whole quartet now sounds excellent and they shift from sheer improvisation to a written tune, and Metheny changes guitars, and also the sound of the guitar changes. Pat likes to play this one electric guitar, I think it is called the synclavier guitar, and it sounds like an off-tune trumpet. To some, a guitar should sound like a guitar, but Metheny seems to like this guitar sound, as he uses it quite a lot.
I actually like it too, and Pat whales away in up and down jazz riffs that seem to come out of nowhere, sound fantastic, and live up to the complete jazz improvisation that he does best.

The whole concert on DVD is about one hour and forty minutes, and the DVD will cost you about $20. It may seem a little pricey for a concert DVD, but the whole production is great. The sound quality is superb, the camera angles and aspects during the concert are superb. When one of the artists does a solo, you can see and hear him clearly. Also, the concert was recorded in 1990, a full fifteen years ago. Each of these respective musicians is arguably at the height of their abilities here, and it really shows.
There are about six tunes that the quartet plays, at least one tune being composed by that respective artist.

One cool thing about jazz is that none of these musicians are in the same `regular' band. But, you'd never know that by this concert. They play so well together, and are so tight in their performance, it's great. They have that wonderful ability that all great musicians have, and jazz musicians in particular, that is great communication. Pat can look at Herbie and they seem to read each other's minds. Some people don't understand jazz, and think it is just chaos. If they only had a chance to see and hear this concert, it all makes sense.

So, all in all, I highly recommend this concert DVD to any lover of jazz music, and in particular to the fans of the respective artists, Metheny, de Johnette, Holland and Hancock.

A delight.

Oh My! How Disturbing This Is and Worth Every Penny!!!.......2005-05-22

All I have to say is those of you who are Pat Metheny fans buy this DVD not just for him, but the first song "Shadow Dnace" by Dave Holland. He absolutely comes out of his "shell," and projects an insane, uncompromising, freak-out....oh and the other musicians are okay...just kidding.

Fantastic DVD with brilliant performances and excellent audio and video quality.

Not to everyone's taste, but good, all the same.......2005-02-20

If you're a fan of either the Pat Metheny Group or Jack DeJohnette in Keith Jarrett's Standards trio, you won't necessarily like the music this superstar quartet plays. It's much closer in style to Metheny's 'Question & Answer' CD, which was recorded in the year preceding this concert. Add in Hancock's unique keyboards style and it's a very acquired taste.

I saw this quartet perform at the Royal Festival Hall in London in the year this DVD was recorded. I was actually sitting behind the band, which was an unusual but involving experience.
This was possibly the last occasion that the British audience saw Metheny's long, bushy hair in its natural silvery state. On his return, it had acquired a mysterious auburn sheen.

The DVD notes mention the fact that this quartet weren't getting on with each other in the early days of the tour. By the time of the recording, they were clearly coping with one another, but I wouldn't put it more strongly than that. To my knowledge, none of them has recorded much with any of the others in the 15 years since.

So get this as a document of four jazz superstars, each playing well if not their very best, a selection of tunes, only one of which is a true jazz great.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Murder on Flight 502

Time Bytes 1947 DVD Card - Long Wave

Roseland (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Mad Monster Party

WWE - Vengeance 2004