The Gadd Gang-Live: On Digital Video (1988)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Notes-Concert Info Biographies-Cast Notes-Notes And Facts DVD-ROM Extras-Weblinks
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	59:44 (Case: 98)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yasuhiko Sato
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Steve Gadd Cornell Dupree Eddie Gomez Richard Tee Ronnie Cuber
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

    I am a fan of most genres of music and have a large collection of CDs and LPs (you remember, those big black things with the little hole in the middle). One of the genres I enjoy is Jazz, in most of its many guises. I am especially fond of music which transcends the boundaries between Jazz, Blues, Soul, R&B and Funk, such as by artists like Grant Green, Stanley Turrentine, Rusty Bryant, Boogaloo Joe Jones and many more. It was with some interest that I approached this DVD by a group I had not heard of, The Gadd Gang, formed in the 1980s by Steve Gadd, a well known session drummer and a number of other extremely talented session artists. They only recorded one album as a group and did some touring, including some shows in Japan in 1988. One of these shows, at the Rappongi Pit Inn on June 7, 1988, was recorded using what would then have been state of the art (and very new) digital video recording facilities.

    The band consists of five very talented instrumentalists who have mostly made their careers through side work and studio sessions. None of them have ever been particularly famous in their own right and truthfully I had only heard of one of them before deciding to review this DVD, the guitarist Cornell Dupree. The full band is:

• Steve Gadd - Drums - Steve has had an illustrious career as a sideman and session drummer playing with people like Chick Corea, Al Di Meola and David Sanborn and most recently appearing on Eric Clapton's latest album.
• Cornell Dupree - Guitar - An extremely well respected session and touring guitarist who has worked across Jazz, Blues, Soul & Funk playing on hundreds of albums including ones for Aretha Franklin, Rufus Thomas, B B King, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, James Brown and many many more. His playing is definitely one of the highlights of this show.
• Richard Tee - Organ & Piano - His session work is also very well respected and he has appeared on albums for George Benson, Grant Green, Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman and many more. He unfortunately died in 1993.
• Ronnie Cuber - Saxophone - A bop saxophone player who has had a long career including 12 albums as leader. He has also played many sessions with people such as George Benson, Maynard Ferguson & The Mingus Big Band.
• Eddie Gomez - Bass - His career has been mostly jazz focused and he has played on an incredible number of recording sessions with artists like Chick Corea & Gerry Mulligan.

    The show itself is very enjoyable soul/funk jazz and includes all cover versions or jams based on jazz, soul and even pop songs, all done in a funky soul jazz style. All of the players are obviously experts and the band is a very tight unit. Visually, the show is not overly interesting, as you might expect from a group of mostly session musicians playing in a small club. The quality of the music makes up for this. The cover lists the DVD as approximately 98 minutes. This is incorrect - the running time is just less than 60 minutes.

    The songs are:

1. Things Ain't What They Used To Be - A Duke Ellington penned jazz standard.
2. I Can't Turn You Loose - The Otis Redding hit.
3. Watching the River Flow - A funky version of the Bob Dylan tune.
4. My Girl - Changes - A medley of the Smokey Robinson tune and a funk fusion Buddy Miles number. Includes a cool bass solo.
5. Whiter Shade of Pale - The Procul Harem song. Probably the least interesting number in the show although certainly not bad.
6. Signed, Sealed, Delivered - This Stevie Wonder number includes some excellent solos on guitar, piano and drums.
7. Honky Tonk - I Can't Stop Loving You - Just to make sure they cover a large range of genres, they finish with a medley of country tunes, but obviously done in a soul jazz style.

    If you are a fan of this style of jazz, you will certainly enjoy this show.

Video

    The video quality is excellent considering the age of the recording.

    The feature is presented in a 1.29:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, surprisingly so for a concert film of this age. It is not at the same level of sharpness as the best modern concert recordings such as Concert for George, however, it is excellent for its age. I am sure this can be put down to the recording originally being digital. Considering the brightly lit stage, shadow detail in the audience and other areas was surprisingly good. There was some light grain from time to time. There was no low level noise. The video has been transferred at a high bitrate, averaging nearly 7 Mbps.

    The colour was good, however there was really very little colour to show.

    From an artefacts perspective, I noticed a little aliasing in the credits and some comet trails from the saxophone. Otherwise, there was nothing to complain about.

    There are no subtitles but since there is only a very small amount of dialogue that is not really a problem.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good but not overly dynamic compared to modern concert recordings. Considering the age of the recording you really cannot complain.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    The music comes across well from the front speakers, with all instruments being well defined and easy to distinguish. The sound is clear and enjoyable.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer are not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu includes a still photograph, music and the ability to select tracks or chapters.

Text Pages of Information

    The main concert includes an icon at the end of each track that when selected takes you to information regarding the track and its author. This information is also accessible from the main menu. Also included are text pages covering details of the band, the show and the careers of the individual members.

DVD-ROM Extras

    Included on the disc are HTML pages giving links to websites for each of the performers. Most of them work.

    This show is available in Region 1 combined with another show called Roots: Salute to the Saxophone, for a reasonable price. On this basis the Region 1 version of the disc is the winner.

    The video quality is excellent considering the age of the recording.

    The audio quality is good but a little lacking in dynamism.

    The disc has only text based extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall