Search - Carmen McRae - Live on DVD

I didn't know Carmen was blue

Bob Fancher | United States | 08/25/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I don't mean "blue" as in sad. I mean that, if this video is to be believed, she has blue skin. Well, sometimes blue, sometimes other weird colors, some never found in nature. That is to say, the fidelity of this video leaves much to be desired. Very, very bad.Similarly, the sound quality of the recording itself. This is simple stereo--no remastering for Dolby--and nothing especially great as stereo recording goes.So far as the performance goes, that she flubs the first line of the first song--a song she's surely sung a thousand times--speaks of things to come. This is not an inspired, or even highly engaged, performance. She is in good voice, but she seems distant a fair amount of the time, and often rather wooden. At times, she seems to be phoning it in. Rarely does her true charisma show through. I found this DVD a great disappointment. I dearly love Carmen McRae--I have more than a dozen of her albums, and one of the most memorable nights of my life included seeing her live at the Blue Note nearly twenty years ago. But this DVD portrays her badly. I wish I hadn't wasted my money on this. I can't imagine bothering to watch it again."

A Tour on Master Command in Voice Performance

Carlos from Rio | Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil | 07/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a nearly 2-hour show in Japan. Carmen McRae is backed by a young and highly professional trio and she sings a great sequence of GAS and Bossa Nova. It's a post-graduation class in singing. High emotion for hearing and for watching a great singer in live action. Recommended to all those who love master singers."

Carmen McRae Live

Vincent Troncoso | montrose, colorado United States | 08/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Truly the finest performance of a legendary stupendous Jazz singer.If you like Jazz this is a must have."

A disappointing performance

Mr. Kenneth J. Hodges | United Kingdom | 01/31/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Let me at the outset declare that I am very biased. I first heard Carmen McRae sing when I was 18 and I have been in love with her ever since. I am now 70,so I have built up quite a collection of her recordings. There isn't much available on video or DVD, so as you can imagine I was delighted to get my hands on this, as I had nothing else of her on film. It hurts me therefore to say that I found it a lack lustre performance, by her own high standards. She seemed to be going through the motions, appeared tired, and spent much of her time on a stool. I realise of course that she wasn't a young woman anymore, and that she became a sufferer from emphesymia, which is a slow debilitating disease, which is probably the worst possible thing for a vocalist to endure. I am sorry I can't in all honesty recommend this, but since there are now other examples of her to be had on film, I can at least enjoy her 'Montreal' performance, which is a notch up from this, as well as seeing her perform as a young woman on the 'jazz casual' series presented by Ralph Gleason. The current one though, is for completists only."