Search - DOROTHY DONEGAN: Pandemonium on DVD

At least some good clips of the unique Dorethy Donegan

D.N.Wijewardane | Colombo, Sri Lanka | 10/31/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This wonderful and charismatic pianist (one of my favourites even if she was not regarded as "a serious jazz player" by some who were perhaps over-serious!) deserves SO much better! Dorethy could swing and she could stomp like no other (certainly of her age and era), and she was a pleasure to watch too. Her voice and impersonations of fellow musicians were also very enjoyable (see CDs). I wish more contemporary musicians actually have a personality rather than just being technically perfect or serious.

Having heard/seen her live (I thank my stars), and on several (limited but great) CDs, this DVD is only an adequate representation, far from her best. The video quality (of the TV shows) is just about fairly good, set on a rather downbeat stage, but the sound quality is better. DD's pieces are also not her best (a couple of tracks here are good, others are listenable). The DVD has at least two other musicians but really not of much note (Spanky Wilson...sadly is not in the same league). The long Intros to this Ad Lib DVD are quite boring, a bit choppy and the commercial adverts of their other products tend to get in the way of one's enjoyment (I'd rather it was at the end, only once too). This said, I am grateful to be able to see Dorethy on DVD in any form as recordings are so few and far between."