The Blues-Piano Blues (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio Biographies-Crew-Clint Eastwood Filmographies-Crew-Clint Eastwood Theatrical Trailer-The Blues Trailer Trailer-Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, Princess Mononoke Trailer-Shane Maloney-The Brush Off & Stiff, Live Forever, Amandla! Trailer-You See Me Laughin'
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	88:31 (Case: 92)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (58:27)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Clint Eastwood
Studio Distributor	Vulcan Productions Madman Entertainment	Starring	Dave Brubeck Ray Charles Jay McShann Dr John Pinetop Perkins Marcia Ball
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This is part of the second batch of episodes in the seven-part series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues, and from my research it seems to be the final episode. This one is directed by Clint Eastwood, and here he takes the role of interviewer as well. Eastwood's liking of blues and jazz is well known, with the music featuring in many of his films being from these genres, and he even directed a film biography of jazz legend Charlie 'Bird' Parker.

    This film consists of Eastwood sitting down with several blues piano luminaries and discussing their approach to the music, their influences and their careers. He starts with the late Ray Charles, and then with other names such as Dr John, Dave Brubeck and the ancient Pinetop Perkins. Eastwood shows an obvious enthusiasm for the music, but unlike other episodes in this series the actual blues content is indistinct. There is about as much on jazz and boogie-woogie music as there is of the blues. Thelonius Monk, Fats Domino, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum get brief film clips, as do a number of old time jazz figures, some of whom were also bluesmen or blueswomen.

    To be honest, I found this episode a little on the dull side. Apart from giving the artists a chance to perform, albeit briefly, it really does not add to my knowledge of the music or make me want to seek any of it out. Eastwood's narration tends towards banal platitudes and non-sequiturs, which I felt distanced me from the content even more. Still, there is enough here to make it watchable for anyone with an interest in blues.

Video

    The film is presented in the original television aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    This is a reasonable transfer, again fairly obviously an NTSC to PAL conversion. The image is sharp but not as sharp as it could have been. There is a fine level of detail but movement makes it blur very slightly. Colour is good with some accurate flesh tones on display. I had no issues with the contrast or the brightness.

    The only significant film to video artefacts are some aliasing and Gibb Effect, which appear to varying degrees throughout. There are no film artefacts excepting in the archival clips.

    No subtitles are provided, a failing of this series given that many of the people involved have a tendency to mumble when speaking or singing.

    This is an RSDL-formatted disc with the layer change at 58:27 at a cut between an old clip of Nat King Cole and Eastwood talking to Jay McShann.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two audio tracks, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. The latter is the default, and while I started with the surround mix I was forced to listen to the stereo mix.

    Dialogue is clearly recorded, though not always intelligible given the aforementioned mumbling tendencies. The audio seems to be warmly recorded, with plenty of detail and nothing in the way of recording issues. Some of the archival material fares less well, with crackling and hiss in evidence.

    There is, however, a major problem with the 5.1 mix on this disc. The audio from the centre channel is repeated in the left rear channel. This puts the surround mix completely out of alignment, making this track a chore to listen to. In dialogue sequences there is little or no audio coming from the mains or right rear speaker. This problem continues throughout the programme.

    The stereo mix does not exhibit any problems, but the soundstage of the faulty surround mix is almost completely collapsed. If you prefer your music in stereo then this is a serviceable but unspectacular track.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Unlike other releases in this series, this disc is very light on extras.

Main Menu Audio

    The static menu has the theme for the series.

Biographies-Crew-Clint Eastwood

    A six-page text biography of the director.

Filmographies-Crew-Clint Eastwood

    An incomplete acting and complete directing filmography.

Theatrical Trailer-The Blues Trailer (5:44)

    The trailer for the overall series.

Trailer-Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, Princess Mononoke, Shane Maloney-The Brush Off & Stiff, Live Forever, Amandla!, You See Me Laughin' (16:31)

    Propaganda for other Madman releases.

    The UK Region 2 release is identical to the Region 4 in terms of extras, apart from the trailers. I have seen two reviews, one of which states that there is one audio track, being Linear PCM stereo, the other that there is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track as well.

    The US Region 1 release again has identical extras apart from the trailers, and has both Linear PCM stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks.

    Either of the overseas releases would be preferable to the Region 4 given that there are no reports of problems with the surround mixes, though I would be careful about getting the Region 2. If you only want a stereo mix, then the Region 4 comes into consideration.

    The least entry in this series so far as far as this reviewer is concerned.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good on the stereo mix, but the surround track has a major glitch.

    No substantial extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall