Gil Evans: Svengali Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Gil Evans: Svengali Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 9, 2024

Nicknames can be a boon, at least when it comes to fashioning anagrams out of them. It might have been a bit of a challenge to get a good anagram out of Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans, though this online tool came up with some funny suggestions. Getting one out of Gil Evans, though? Well, look no further than the title of this great live album from 1973 by the inimitable arranger and conductor. Evans of course was one of the pioneers in so-called cool jazz, and his collaborations with Miles Davis are appropriately legendary (and how great it would be to have those albums in hi-res audio?). This is a bit of an experimental album for Evans, combining somewhat "modernistic" big band approaches with some electric and electronic instrumentation that kind of reminded me at times of a probably slightly more provocative but still somewhat similar approach to what Hugo Montenegro was taking at this same time (more or less) with more ostensibly "easy listening" efforts.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Gil Evans: Svengali Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is another Quadio release from Rhino that offers an animated main menu, though because this is one of the more conveniently authored discs from Rhino where you can use the color buttons on your remote to toggle between audio codecs, you don't really need to have your monitor or display on to enjoy the album. The animation involves the album logo scrolling either vertically or horizontally behind the album cover and track listing, depending on which song is playing. You can make out some of these changes by looking at the various screenshots of the menu I've included with this review.

Gil Evans: Svengali Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gil Evans: Svengali features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. I'm sure the main interest here will be the quadraphonic version, and it's another fantastic example of excellent separation, though rather interestingly several tunes begin with full on blasts from all four speaks of the tutti ensemble. There are some cool moments where little "comments" by instruments can be discretely channelized, as in some short solos from Ted Dunbar in "Thoroughbred". Drums can either be positioned front or rear, and depending on that positioning, you can hear some excellent hall reverb on percussion in particular if you go to the "opposite" channel as you listen. Some of the crunchy, squishy synth effects are maybe a bit comical now, but fidelity throughout is superb.

This is another Quadio release where the insert booklet has some information on "bass management" that may be salient for some depending on how they have their audio set up.

Gil Evans: Svengali Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements. An insert booklet has the track listing, credits and information on the source recording and the aforementioned bass management.

Gil Evans: Svengali Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say I'd actually prefer some of the vaunted Evans / Davis collaborations on hi-res audio Blu-ray rather than this one, but at least this album offers "Summertime", which may for obvious reasons be the most reminiscent of the earlier collaborative albums. One way or the other, while the material here may be intermittently a bit "prickly" for some listeners, it still shows Evans' complete mastery of orchestral colors, and all of the players are in top form. Audio is excellent and thankfully this is authored the way I prefer, with the color buttons on the remote allowing for easy access to available audio codecs. Recommended.