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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Diana Krall-Live in Paris (Warner Vision) (2002)

Diana Krall-Live in Paris (Warner Vision) (2002)

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Released 5-Jun-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Music Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Music Video-The Look Of Love
Music Video-Let's Face The Music And Dance
Featurette-Concert Rehearsal
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 2002
Running Time 113:57 (Case: 130)
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (69:30) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By David Barnard
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision
Starring Diana Krall
John Clayton
Jeff Hamilton
Paulinho DaCosta
John Pisano
Anthony Wilson
Paris Jazz Big Band
Orchestre Symphonique Europeen
Case Click
RPI $39.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Auto Pan & Scan Encoded English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English dts 6.1 ES Matrix (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio Unknown Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    If you're a red-blooded male, approaching mid-life crisis, with a penchant for dusky blondes (female that is) crooning softly over a piano into your ear, then you're probably already familiar with Diana Krall. If you fit the above and aren't familiar with Ms Krall then you're missing out! Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia (that's Canada) in 1964, jazz singer/pianist Diana Krall has already released seven albums, including the Billboard-topping, quintuple platinum-winning, The Look of Love and earned a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Singer in 1999 for When I Look in Your Eyes.

    Currently resident in New York, Krall pays frequent tribute to pianist singers such as Nat King Cole, Carmen McRae and Dinah Washington and includes music from the likes of Gershwin (Ira and George), Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington amongst her many other musical influences.

    Diana Krall Live in Paris was shot for DVD at the Paris Olympia, on 2nd December 2001. A talented 5-piece backing band includes long-standing jazz notables John Clayton (double-bass) and Jeff Hamilton (drums), who also recorded her first album Stepping Out in 1992. String and brass accompaniment is provided by the European Symphony Orchestra and Paris Jazz Big Band conducted by Alan Broadbent. This performance features 17 songs in a low-key, friendly atmosphere where Krall is happy to share the limelight with her fellow musicians and pay tribute to her musical heritage and past and present mentors. The musicians blend seamlessly together and the atmosphere created by a band who enjoy playing together is infectious. There's no doubt that Krall's sultry vocals are the highlight of the performance together with her obvious ease-on-the-eye. Her piano playing is innovative and technically proficient, though falling short of virtuoso, and at times perhaps just a little too laid back. However, the high point musically for me was the hauntingly beautiful solo finale, A Case of You which amply illustrates Ms Krall's qualities as a superb ballad singer, perhaps a pointer to a future musical direction away from the jazz scene.

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Track Listing

1. I Love Being Here With You
2. All or Nothing
3. Let's Fall in Love
4. The Look of Love
5. Maybe You'll Be There
6. Deed I Do
7. Devil May Care
8. Cry Me a River
9. Under My Skin
10. East of The Sun
11. I Get Along
12. Pick Yourself Up
13. S'Wonderful
14. Love Letters
15. I Don't Know Enough About You
16. Do It Again
17. A Case of You

Transfer Quality

Video

    This performance was shot in digital video and is of excellent quality - earning status as my current reference music feature DVD.

    The transfer is presented in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is very clear and sharp as befits its digital origin without the harshness sometimes associated with this method of recording. There is no low level noise and shadow detail is excellent within the limitations of the ambient lighting.

    The stage lighting was excellent and natural without the blue-red saturation that frequently bedevils a live performance. Colours were richly rendered with deep blacks, shining whites and delicate and natural skin hues. There was no chroma noise or bleeding.

    There were no MPEG artefacts discernible. In keeping with the sharpness of the transfer, mild aliasing was evident along the usual diagonals of strings and keyboard edges, but was only really notable on a 50 inch screen and above. There was subtle edge enhancement, such as on the border of Ms Krall's leather jacket at 27:03, but this was only discernible when looked for and with the benefit of a zoom feature on the DVD player. The digital origin of the video was given away by a couple of missing pixels in long-range shots from an  auditorium camera panning across the double-bass at 22:48.

    There were no subtitles which, although not really needed due to the clarity of the singing, would have been nice for those with hearing impairment.

   The disc was RSDL-formatted with a barely discernible transition point at 69:30.

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

Audio

    The audio quality was superb and was of reference standard.

    There are three audio tracks for you to sample on the main feature; English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English Dolby Digital 5.1 and a DTS ES 6.1 Matrix mix for the perusal of those suitably endowed with necessary processor and rear centre channel speaker(s). I listened to the whole of the Stereo track and then alternating DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 with some same track comparisons. All tracks were of excellent quality and eminently listenable. Comparing the multi-channel mixes revealed that, unusually, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track was about 3 dB louder than the DTS track and was generally punchier with an enhanced dynamic range, and was my mix of choice.

    Dialogue quality was superb and Ms Krall's luscious, husky vocals were delivered beautifully and clearly to your speaker cones. There were no apparent lip sync discrepancies.

    The surrounds (and rear centre channel in DTS ES) were slightly more adventurously used than in many music DVDs, conveying not only the usual reverberation ambience and audience feedback, but were also used to fill in the sound of the Steinway giving a pleasing, rounded out, whole room feel as befits a classic piano

    The subwoofer was used to seamlessly integrate the low frequencies of John Conway's double bass into the frequency span of the rest of the band. Don't expect it to deliver any thumping rhythms as Jeff Hamilton's kick-drum seemed to be there for ornamental purposes only!

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

Extras

Menu

    The menu is presented at 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced and animated with clips of Ms Krall singing as background to the main menu or as window snippets in the extras selection menu.

Bonus videos

    The released music videos of  The Look of Love (3:49) and Lets Face The Music and Dance (4:14) in Dolby Digital stereo - both superbly produced promo videos.

Concert Rehearsal

    Diana, band and the European Symphony Orchestra in 15:43 of rehearsal for the show and featuring Do It Again, The Look of Love, and Love Letters in Dolby Digital 5.1, stereo and DTS audio versions.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The R1 and R4 releases appear to be of identical content.

Summary

    This is a high-quality recording of a talented, gorgeous artist and excellent backing band - if you're not into jazz don't worry - I'm sure the visual and auditory appeal of Ms Krall will win over more than a few converts to her kind of entertainment. I'm certainly impressed enough to book tickets to her forthcoming Australian concert tour.

    The video quality is excellent and a splendid example of digital video recording.

    The audio quality is superb, and is of reference quality.

    The extras are limited but pleasing and illustrate Diana Krall's appeal as a popular artist as well as a traditional jazz singer/pianist.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© John Lancaster (read my bio)
Sunday, May 26, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba SD-900E, using RGB output
DisplayPioneer SD-T50W1 (127cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderDenon ACV-A1SE. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationTheta Digital Intrepid
SpeakersML Aeon front. B&W LRC6 Centre. ML Script rear. REL Strata III SW.

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