An Evening with Dave Grusin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

An Evening with Dave Grusin Blu-ray Movie Review

Cruisin' with Grusin.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 18, 2011

Back in the Dark Ages—you know, the 1950s through the 1970s—television series had an odd little item known as “the theme song.” This phenomenon may sound archaic, strange and patently bizarre to those of you born after the advent of, say, Star Wars, but for those of us who were alive for at least part of this halcyon age, wonderfully nostalgic memories reside whenever great themes from television series past are heard, usually on such newfangled technologies like YouTube. Being musically inclined myself, I always paid attention to who wrote various television themes growing up, and in fact it was through that attention that I first became a fan of several writers who would also become well-known film composers. Names like Johnny (later John) Williams, Lalo Schifrin and Dave Grusin became well known to the likes of yours truly and scores of others due to their inventive television themes. The fact that I must not be the only "theme geek" out there was evidenced quite recently by an incredibly lucrative sale on eBay I stumbled across of a rare 45 featuring Grusin’s original themes from The Name of the Game and It Takes a Thief. Grusin was always a special favorite of mine anyway, due to his long collaboration as orchestrator for most of Sergio Mendes’ albums with Brasil ’66, a pairing which in my estimation raised the bar of pop music excellence to Art Song levels in several cases (Grusin's work is positively Mahlerian in some of Mendes' more wistfully nostalgic ballads, but he could then switch colors and deliver bracingly inventive big band charts for some of Brasil '66's more adventurous jazz outings). In fact Schifrin, Williams and Grusin took the jazz-inflected vocabulary that Henry Mancini and others had introduced to television scoring in the 1950s and moved it forward into a sophisticated mélange that could be seen as being the progenitor for the genre that would become known as "smooth jazz." And indeed Grusin himself became one of the icons of that idiom when he founded his Grusin-Rosen Productions label, known by its acronym GRP Records, a label which pioneered compact discs (replete with fully digital recordings), and which brought a whole host of easily accessible jazz recordings to the listening public that were the artistic child as it were of the equally iconic Creed Taylor recordings for his eponymous label CTi, which were much prized albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Perhaps somewhat oddly, Schifrin’s film career, while certainly full and varied, never quite rose to the front ranks, at least in terms of public awareness, though such wonderful scores as his The Fox or Bullitt prove what a facile film writer he could be. Both Williams and Grusin did indeed rise to the front ranks of film composers, and it’s probably inarguable that Williams is the best known film composer of his generation. But Grusin was there all along, contributing one great score after another, even if he’s best remembered for On Golden Pond and Tootsie. (If you’re a fan of On Golden Pond, I highly recommend you check out Grusin’s relatively early score for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, certainly one of the most gorgeous pieces of film writing of the late 1960s, and at times very presciently redolent of his later work in On Golden Pond). But unlike Williams, who did indeed flirt with a light jazz style in several of his 1960s scores (Fitzwilly’s charming song “Make Me Rainbows” has become something of a jazz standard), Grusin had always honed his jazz chops and was, at least in the insular world of working musicians, known as much for his jazz playing as he was for his film writing. While his early sides for Columbia found him working in a fairly straight ahead jazz vernacular, by the 1970s when he founded GRP with his former Andy Williams bandmate Larry Rosen, Grusin had started carving out a rather formidable niche in the then burgeoning genre which would ultimately become known, rightly or wrongly, as “smooth jazz.”

An Evening With Dave Grusin finds the now 70-something master in full control of the incredible Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, playing a number of wonderful Grusin arrangements (along with some shared charts by Grusin regular session man Tom Scott). The concert is a rather odd assortment of tunes, with Grusin originals getting something of a short shrift. Instead we’re treated to thrilling renditions of tunes from West Side Story (Grusin's West Side Story GRP CD was one his biggest sellers), a couple of Gershwin tunes and a nod to Grusin’s mentor Henry Mancini himself. If one is to take some passing footage from some of the accompanying documentaries as a clue, there are at least a couple of other tunes that were performed that night that didn’t make the final cut of this Blu-ray, which is a shame. The more Grusin, the better, in my estimation at least.

While those of us who love Grusin’s own writing may whine a little at the exclusion of more originals, there’s little here that will disappoint any avid fan. The evening is full of wonderful moments with a host of longtime Grusin collaborators, including vibe player Gary Burton, flautist Nestor Torres, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and Henry Mancini's daughter Monica, who delivers a gorgeously understated version of her Dad's iconic "Moon River." Jon Secada is also on hand to sing a couple of tunes from West Side Story, and while his reedy timbre may bother those more attuned to full blooded Broadway belting, he manages to walk a fine line between the ballad and straight ahead nuances of Grusin’s haunting charts for these gorgeous pieces. The best moments of the evening belong to an hilarious Patti Austin, who brings the house down with some piquant comments about Tiger Woods as she launches into a version of “Makin’ Whoopee,” which Grusin used to such great effect in The Fabulous Baker Boys).

One complaint that some viewers may have with this overall brilliant concert is the decision to intercut some of the tunes with talking heads commenting on Dave or the tune at hand. This deprives the audience of being able to enjoy the complete performance, and it would have been preferable to have offered seamless branching to allow viewers to either have the performance by itself or the talking heads segments interpolated as they are in this final cut. Luckily this doesn't happen on every song, so it is perhaps a niggling disappointment. It's obvious from the talking heads segments how deeply loved and admired Grusin is by all of the great musicians on hand, and Grusin's own self effacing commentary between the performances show what a gentle giant he is. Maybe that very same self effacement kept him from pushing more of his originals on the evening's promoters. Let's hope that his Blu-ray producer Larry Rosen decides to do a follow up featuring an evening of original Grusin compositions. As someone once stated, the more Grusin, the better.

Dave’s set list includes:

• Fratelli Chase
• Cool (with Gary Burton and Gregg Field)
• Maria (with Jon Secada)
• Makin’ Whoopee (with Patti Austin)
• I Feel Pretty (with Nestor Torres)
• Bess, You Is My Woman Now/I Loves You Porgy
• It Might Be You (with Patti Austin)
• On Golden Pond/Hornpipe Medley
• Somewhere (with Patti Austin and Jon Secada)
• Moon River (with Monica Mancini)
• America (with Arturo Sandoval, Sammy Figueroa and Matt Vashlishan)
• Memphis Stomp

An Evening with Dave Grusin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Concord Jazz, the niche label which has a host of Grusin-related artists on its roster (Sergio Mendes, Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, etc.), jumps into the Blu-ray business with its imprint Heads Up, which provides us An Evening with Dave Grusin with a generally very good to excellent AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. The image here is decently sharp most of the time, but the decision to cloak the stage in diffuse red and blue lighting a lot of the time adds a layer of softness and fuzziness to the image which may bother more ardent videophiles. There is just the edge of some blooming in some of these aggressively lit shots, creating mild halos of light around the players. Otherwise, though, this is a good looking concert video, with very good to excellent fine detail, especially in the copious close-ups. Black levels are solid and contrast is very good throughout the performances.

An Evening with Dave Grusin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Heads Up hasn't skimped on audio options on this release, giving us two lossless and two lossy tracks from which to choose. On the lossless side we have a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as well as an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down, and we have Dolby counterparts on the lossy side. Aside from some probably picayune mixing issues I had with various tunes, these are robust and blisteringly enjoyable mixes. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is remarkably clear and bright, with wonderful space and well utilized surround mixing. Occasionally some of the solo instruments feel like they're just slightly buried in the mix. The most noticeable of these issues is Gary Burton's vibraphone, which seems strangely muffled in the full band moments of "Cool." Otherwise, though, the track sparkles with brilliant fidelity, impressive dynamic range and spot on fidelity throughout all frequencies.

An Evening with Dave Grusin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Genius of Grusin (1080i; 9:24) is a brief career overview with several interview segments interspersed throughout some rudimentary biographical data. Dave talks about how he got started in film and television scoring and there are passing nods to his jazz career, specifically his formation of GRP with Larry Rosen.
• The Red Light Players (1080i; 9:40) might lead you to believe they're talking about the lighting scheme used in abundance throughout this concert, but instead it's an allusion to the red light that goes on in a recording studio when "tape" (or a hard drive) is rolling, upping the professionalism considerably. It's a great look at the fantastic band supporting Dave and soloists on this outing.
• iPad Apps are really pretty impressive, including a wealth of information, interviews and other goodies not available on the Blu-ray. Hey, what gives?
• Trailer

An Evening with Dave Grusin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dave Grusin is an undisputed master in any number of musical endeavors and this wonderful concert finds him in top form, backed by a remarkable young orchestra and a host of celebrity guest stars. Curmudgeons might complain about this program's relative brevity, as well as the dearth of Grusin originals, but what's here is so captivating that complaints should probably be shunted aside. With a good looking image and a really robust audio presentation, this release is Highly recommended.