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QUINCY JONES - - The 75th Birthday Celebration Eagle Vision EREDV

DVD1
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Let the Good Times Roll
3. Makin' Whoopee
4. Moody s Mood
5. The Television Song
6. Honeysuckle Rose
7. Shiny Stockings
8. I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town / In The Heat of the Night
9. If I Ever Lose This Heaven
10. Midnight Sun
11. One Mint Julep
12. Goin' to Chicago Blues
13. My Ship/Summertime
14. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
15. Almost Like Being In Love
16. Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)
17. What's Going On
18. Eyes Of Love / Bluesette

DVD2
1. Walking In Space
2. Strawberry Letter 23
3. How Do You Keep the Music Playing
4. The Dude
5. Billie Jean
6. Wall Of Sound
7. Mama Aifambeni
8. State Of Independence
9. Everything Must Change
10. Cool Joe, Mean Joe (Killer Joe)
11. Ai No Corrida
12. Stuff Like That
    Bonus Feature: Thank Q, a Montreux Tribute to Quincy Jones.

Artists: Monty Alexander, Franco Ambrosetti, Patti Austin, Petula Clark, Billy Cobham, Herbie Hancock, Mick Hucknall, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Angélique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Nils Landgren, Ledisi, James Moody, James Morrison, Nana Mouskouri, Naturally 7, Paolo Nutini, Rahsaan Patterson, Freda Payne, Tobias Preisig, Lee Ritenour, Patrice Rushen, Joe Sample, Curtis Stigers, Toots Thielemans, Larry Williams; The Montreux In The House Band: Greg Phillinganes, David Delhomme, Paul Jackson Jr., Nathan East, John Robinson, Paulinho da Costa; The Swiss Army Big Band.

 

After Michael Jackson's sudden death, it is worth remembering not only the music he made (which included some good stuff) but also the man who, perhaps more than any other, gave Michael his greatest success. I am talking of Quincy Jones, who produced Jackson's albums Off the Wall and Thriller. He also worked with many other famous singers and musicians, many of whom are on this double DVD. Quincy is not just a producer: he is a composer and arranger who started his musical life as a jazz trumpeter.

Quincy's 75th birthday last year was celebrated with this concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The performance opened with Paulinho da Costa coaxing a remarkable number of sounds from a tambourine. Then he joined the excellent "In the House Band" backing Herbie Hancock in Ennio Morricone's theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with Patti Austin scatting wildly.

And so it continued, with a mass of artists paying due tribute to Quincy. They are too numerous to describe in detail but they are listed above.

Most of the arrangements used on the night were Quincy's own originals, and the Swiss Army Big Band accompanied singer Rahsaan Patterson in Quincy's arrangement of Let the Good Times Roll, to which James Moody added a splendid tenor sax solo. Moody sang his classic Moody's Mood, with Patti Austin joining in sympathetically. Mick Hucknall (of pop group Simply Red) sang In the Heat of the Night to remind us that Quincy wrote the score for that marvellous film - and many others.

Al Jarreau had some problems with intonation in the difficult chromaticism of Midnight Sun and Nana Mouskouri had even greater difficulties with pitching her two tunes, which were saved by James Morrison displaying his enviable technique on trumpet and trombone. Chaka Khan and Patti Austin duetted on a blues, accompanied by the superb Greg Phillinganes on piano.

The spirit of Michael Jackson was evoked by Billie Jean being performed by Naturally 7, a vocal group which convincingly imitates musical instruments with their voices and even their bodies. Many of the vocalists joined in Ai No Corrida before the big finale: Stuff Like That, with all the performers crowded onto the stage.

The DVD is accompanied by a massive booklet giving all the details you could want - too many to include in this review, although the personnel details are printed almost unreadably in red on a black background. The second disc includes a "bonus" consisting of tributes from the performers to Quincy Jones - and vice versa, plus film footage of rehearsals, backstage socialising, and partying.

This double DVD might be described as an embarras de richesse or a curate's egg, but most of it is a well-deserved recognition of Quincy Jones, who was sitting in the audience clearly enjoying the show.

Tony Augarde  

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