The Jeff Healey Band-Live at Montreux 1999 (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Booklet Bonus Track-4
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	83:13 (Case: 107)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (30:46)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Montreux Sounds Rajon Vision	Starring	Jeff Healey
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Various

    Founded in 1967, the Montreux Jazz Festival has established itself as one of the most prestigious annual music events in the world. The extraordinary list of artists who have played Montreux is drawn from across the musical spectrum (it's not just limited to jazz as the name might suggest) and from around the world. It includes the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Van Morrison, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, BB King, Santana, Johnny Cash and even decidedly non-jazz groups such as The Corrs and ZZ Top. 2006 sees the festival celebrate its 40th anniversary with the event to take place in the Swiss town from June 30 to July 15.

    1999 saw the instantly recognisable Jeff Healey Band wow the crowd with their blend of rock and blues. Band frontman, Canadian Jeff Healey is probably best known for his blindness and his unique style of playing his Stratocaster guitar flat on his lap using all four fingers and thumb on the fret. Healey lost his sight when he was just one due to cancer of the eyes. Blindness didn't stop him, though, and he began playing guitar when he was only three, developing his unique playing style because he didn't have anyone to teach him the proper way of holding the instrument.

    Healey's big break came in 1988 he released the album See The Light, which contained the massive hit single Angel Eyes, a song which has been covered around the world including here in Australia by an Idol contestant.

    For this 1999 performance he is in fine form on the guitar and blends a few of his own songs with some classic covers such as Stuck In The Middle With You and Roadhouse Blues. His take on Angel Eyes is sublime, while the Mark Knopfler penned I Think I Love You Too Much is also superb. This is blues rock at its most passionate with a lead guitarist and singer who has absolutely no distractions from the crowd or on stage to cloud his performance. Listening to a Jeff Healey performance is all about the music and his ability to get completely lost in it. He oozes passion for his craft and with his unique playing style this is a show to savour.

    The following songs are performed in this 80 minute show:

Video

    All of the Montreux titles have so far exhibited excellent video quality and this 1999 concert is no exception.

    The aspect ratio is 1.29:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The level of sharpness and detail is excellent, and with a simple lighting setup there are no issues with shadow detail. There is no grain at all and no low level noise on some of the black areas.

    Colours are solid without being spectacular.

    No compression artefacts were detected. Video artefacts are also absent with no obvious comet trails appearing as they have done in some of the other titles in the series.

    Sadly there are no subtitles.

    This is a dual layered disc with the layer change at 30:46.

Video Ratings Summary

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

    As with the other Montreux titles, we are spoilt for choice with three audio tracks available covering virtually all possibilities. First up is a Dolby Digital 5.1 effort, while the second track is a PCM stereo 2.0 track. Lastly, those with suitable equipment levels can once again immerse themselves in the delights of a relatively good  dts 5.1 surround soundtrack.

    The Montreux series of concert DVD have thrown up a bit of a mixed bag in terms of audio so far. I was a little disappointed with the lack of sparkle evident in the Joe Cocker disc, but found The Moody Blues title quite good. This disc sees the audio sit somewhere in the above average category with clear instrument separation, solid vocals and a wide dynamic range. There's not a whole stack of solid or powerful surround activity, but the front soundstage is utilised fully. The tracks don't sparkle quite the way a really high-quality modern dts or Dolby Digital track do, but they are still pretty good.

    The sub is nicely integrated. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track makes more use of it than the dts track, but both offer seamless bass throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
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Menu Animation & Audio

Booklet

    A six-page fold-out style of booklet that in addition to advertising some of the other Live at Montreux titles includes a comprehensive bio of Jeff Healey written by Michael Heatley and a reproduction of the 1999 official festival poster.

Bonus Tracks

    Four songs taken from Jeff Healey's 1997 performance at Montreux. Indulge in As The Years Go Passing By, That's What They Say, Put The Shoe On The Other Foot and The Beatles famous hit While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Runs for 24:09.

    The Region 1 disc appears identical to the Region 4 version.

    The Jeff Healey Band - Live At Montreux is another disc in the series of titles from the Montreux Jazz Festival and one of the more recent concerts in the set. 1999 saw the instantly recognisable blind musician Jeff Healey and band rock the crowd with their unique blend of rock and blues. To see Healey play his Fender Stratocaster guitar flat on his lap with all four fingers and thumb used on the fretboard is truly a remarkable thing.

    As with most of the other titles in this series, the video quality is excellent, while the audio, which includes a dts soundtrack, shines as a better than marginally average effort.

    There are no real extras other than a booklet and a few bonus songs from the band's 1997 performance at Montreux.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall