Charles Mingus - Jazz Icons (DVD, 2007)

First of all, Charles Mingus and the group from this era are superb musicians at the top of their careers. This footage is from European tours and the atmosphere of the concerts is a bit sterile--no smokey nightclubs, but polished auditoriums and TV studios reflecting the respect the European audience gives to the musicians, something like a classical chamber music venue. Much to the musician's credit, they play crisp inspired music. Well photographed in black and white and well recorded with nice sound, this DVD is essential for the serious jazz fan. The only problem I encountered was ordering at the cheapest price yielded a DVD sent by a vendor in Thailand who did include the booklet included in DVD's sold in the US.

I enjoyed listening to ole Charlie pulling on those big bad strings. I had to get used to watching a black and white production but once past that it was a very interesting performance for way back in 1964. Sadly to lose such a fine musician as Eric Dolphy just less than three months after this recording is tragic. If you are a jazz lover you will enjoy this DVD with three sets, one in Belgium, another in Norway, and the last in Sweden all eleven songs recorded in a eight day span. Why only a good rating? well the B&W recording and it can only be played in LPCM48k 16bit audio other than that the performance was superb.
Kick back and turn it up!

Excellent permomances
Capted live, you can see the natural attitude of the group.
You see also the great pleasure of musicians to play into the group, great fusion into the members.
A great documentary and great Music !
Quality is excellent