Casino Lights '99-Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1999 (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	125:08 (Case: 124)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Bob James Mark Turner Kenny Garrett Larry Carlton Kirk Whalum Kevin Mahogany Rick Braun Boney James Gabriela Anders George Duke Fourplay
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Various

    I think it must be a sign that I am getting older. As well as not having a clue as to why youngsters wear what they do, I find myself more and more liking jazz, which is something I thought would never happen to me, as the saying goes. The burgeoning collection of jazz in my CD collection does not lie, and it therefore came as a nice surprise when Casino Lights '99 arrived on my doorstep for my reviewing pleasure. Can Michael read my mind? Perhaps. Either way, settling down with this luscious disc has only proven to me what the old-timers knew all along: Jazz be good.

     Recorded live at the Montreau Jazz Festival on July 13th and 14th of 1999, this production is as slick as they come. Superb performances by jazz musicians of all flavours combine with some simply wonderful pieces. Gabriela Anders literally stole my heart (albeit briefly) with her incredible voice and style. There is all kinds of jazz on offer here, from blues to fusion, solos to ensembles. I am sure that anyone with even a passing interest in jazz will simply love this concert.

Video

    Being shot on video, the presentation is in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is non-16x9 enhanced.

    Whilst being sharp enough, the transfer has that tell-tale "I am NTSC posing as PAL" quality about it, with the up-conversion softening the image a tad. Still, it is very nice with plenty of detail. Shadow detail is perfect, something of a wonder for a concert of this nature. The most striking aspect of this transfer is perhaps the absolute lack of low level noise of any kind - it really does have a smooth look to it.

    Colours are handled superbly, again with absolutely no chroma noise. Blues in particular are rendered to perfection, being the best example of noiseless colour I have seen in video material.

    There are no MPEG artefacts whatsoever, nor are there indeed any artefacts of any kind save for the slight occasional jaggies due to the material being originally NTSC.

    This disc is RSDL formatted, with the layer change occurring between Chapters 7 and 8 at 125:08 minutes. Occurring during a natural fade between songs, there are no complaints here.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    An absolute stunner of a soundtrack is offered here, easily being amongst the best sounding discs I have heard.

    All three popular formats are supplied; Linear PCM 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.0 and DTS 5.0. I should note that at all times my subwoofer was disabled at the receiver to ensure no artificial subwoofer usage.

    Whilst the Linear PCM track was fine, both the DD and DTS tracks suffered wandering sync problems, only getting close to being right after the layer change. This proved to be very distracting at times (especially during high-speed drumming), and not at others. Since the audio is far and away the drawcard of this disc, this is perhaps not quite the problem it would otherwise be since you are better served with the telly turned off when listening to this one. Still, it should not occur.

    Jazz recorded right is what we have here. The sound is luscious, full-bodied and all-consuming. Turn the telly off and just be taken away I say. The sound has plenty of dynamic range with a low average volume, so a good turn of the knob in the clock-wise direction is called for. I mainly listened to the DTS soundtrack, but did extensive sampling of the other formats on the disc. It is fair to conclude that the Linear PCM 2.0 soundtrack is as you would expect of a fine recording, with exceptional fidelity, tight imaging and a lovely sense of spaciousness. A wonderful recording by all accounts. The DTS 5.0 variant provided an almost identical front soundstage and the same smooth fidelity. Lastly, the DD 5.0 soundtrack certainly held its own, but lacked the dynamics of the Linear PCM and DTS counterparts. Saxophone in particular lacked some bite, and a touch of sparkle was missing in the highs and in ambience cues on the whole recording.

    The surrounds were utilised sparingly for the DD and DTS tracks, and were used mainly for crowd interaction. Now and again subtle sidewall presence was noticed, but by and large, all three tracks exhibited the same pleasing frontal imaging. If you are cautious about surround usage in live concerts then you won't be disturbed by the way the mixers have utilised them here, and "Hell Freezes Over" this isn't.

    There is no discrete .1 channel provided, and this is how it should be. The recording has all the warmth and fullness any good recording has, and has no need of a low frequency effects channel.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Web Links

    Both versions are identical save for video formatting.

    This is a superb jazz recording and should be any lover's collection. The video is faultless. The audio is equally faultless, though subjectively let down by major audio sync problems. I heartily recommend it.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall