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IT'S A MARVELOUS DOCUMENTARY FROM THE BEST OF THE BIG BANDS ERA - THE BENNY GOODMAN ORCHESTRA. IT'S WONDERFUL.
The only criticism I have of this is that it could have been three hours long with all the available material and surviving members of his bands. well, it's still a 5 star video for the fan of jazz. Benny Goodman is a legend and the DVD is a short but fitting tribute.
If you love the swing era, this DVD is for you. Not only do you have Benny Goodman, but the stars who played with him are what made swing the great period that it was. Gene Kruppa stands out in particular. As this was taken from old movies, the picture quality may not be what one might hope, but I bought the record to listen to the music and I was not disappointed.
Seeing the undisputed master doing it is a great inspiration. Actually seeing that approach in motion hammered that home.
The music clips were better than those I've seen in other videos. I did not mind that there were few complete music pieces, have seen them elsewhere.
I watched this DVD three times in as many nights when I rented it from Netflix. I am learning the clarinet, and my teacher keeps trying to keep my fingers as close to the instrument as possible and has mentioned that in certain cases a particular hand does not have to leave the instrument at all.
Two things fascinated me about this one: the commentaries from his daughters, sister, brothers, and sidemen, though some comments offered as fact conflicted with those heard/read elsewhere, so I don't know what's really true. The second thing, and why I am buying this DVD after watching it three times, is the closeups of BG's fingering, much closer than in other videos.
It seemed that very few of Benny's fingers left the clarinet at times, even in up-tempo numbers. And, yes, I know about his personality, warts and all, but as Jess Stacy says in the video, when you hear him, all is forgiven.
However, the clips that were briefly presented were fabulous. This DVD production is about the life and times of musical great Benny Goodman. Other reviewers have stated in more detail the specifics of this DVD especially all of the collaborations of the other great musical talents of the time. It is not a presentation of complete performances. It would have been nice to have had at least several complete performances from beginning to end , perhaps as bonus tracks. This is a must have DVD for Benny Goodman fans. I will only give this 4 stars because of the annoying way the clips were edited.
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