"Director: Christian Wagner"

• The Band From Utopia - A Tribute To The Music Of Frank Zappa | DVD | (19/04/2002) from £21.50   |  Saving you £-1.51 (-7.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Recorded live at the Jazz Open in Stuttgart in 1994, The Band from Utopia benefits from musicians fleet-fingered enough to replicate the late Frank Zappa’s intricate amalgams of jazz, rock, classical and r&b. Zappa, who died in 1992, was a prodigious musical talent and one of the few people to build musical bridges between rock and the more "serious" works of Stravinsky and Varese. If there’s a weakness in his music, however, it’s that instead of soul it has only a pervasively sarcastic quality. Zappa's mirthless humour is in evidence here: architecturally breathtaking music and musicianship is sabotaged by titles like "The Illinois Enima (sic) Bandit", while the wistfully gorgeous backdrop of "Outside Now" is disfigured by an embittered, satirical stream-of-consciousness lyric. This project does work, however, not least because of the cheerful tone set by vocalist/guitarist Ike Willis, who invests in the music humane qualities lacking in Zappa. He savours some of Zappa’s more acrid verse, as in "Bamboozled By Love", while relishing its ploughing, killer blues riff. The rest of the band, meanwhile, set about their task of restoring old Zappa classics like 1968’s "Uncle Meat" with an infectiously good-natured enthusiasm. Playing with Zappa, a notorious disciplinarian, was probably never this much fun. The Stuttgart audience look as if they’ve wandered in from Songs of Praise and the Band From Utopia have the Dress Sense From Hell, but overall this is a musica! l celebration worth celebrating. On the DVD: The Band from Utopia disc has no extra features. The digital soundtrack is immaculate, though, and the video aspect ratio 4.3. --David Stubbs

• Charlie Daniels Band - Live At Rockpalast (all regions) | DVD | (07/05/2012) from £17.09   |  Saving you £2.90 (14.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Una performance di Charlie Daniels Band risalente al 28/11/1980 e registrata per conto della popolare trasmissione della WDR alla Westfalenhalle di Dortmund. Per l'occasione il country rocker americano si esibì con una formazione tipica degli schemi southern rock, con doppia chitarra e doppia batteria. Lo show è straordinario e raggiunge il suo apice con i 9 minuti dello standard country Orange Blossom Special. La qualità della registrazione è superba.

• Jazz Club Highlights 1990 | DVD | (22/02/2002) from £15.49   |  Saving you £4.50 (22.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Jazz Club Highlights 1990 was recorded live at the Theaterhaus Jazz Festival in Stuttgart and is not to be confused with The Fast Show sketch of the same name. This concert showcases 11 contemporary and veteran jazz artists, with a number from each featured. At one end of the spectrum are the likes of Steps Ahead, whose baggy trousers and ponytails bespeak an unhealthy penchant for third-generation jazz/funk/rock fusion. Michael Kerstang's Baterie also indulges in too much guitar twaddle, with a lengthy drum solo thrown in. A refreshing contrast is struck by Beirut's Rabih Abou-Khalil on "Dusk", the pensive, acoustic strains of his traditional Oud unspoilt by a contemporary setting. Sixties new-jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp offers "Mama Rose", a track reminiscent of John Coltrane in his unbridled mid-60s mode, though with an astringency to his playing that is all his own. John Zorn & Naked City represent the avant-garde here with the excellent "Mystery Song", a free interplay of claustrophobic sax squiggles and decaying electronic drones. This release also affords a rare opportunity to witness the late and rather great Michel Petrucciani and his Trio. Just three feet tall, due to a condition known as "glass bones", Petrucciani, with the aid of a special device to work the pedals nonetheless forged a sweeping and vivaciously romantic jazz piano style. Sadly, he died aged just 36. On the DVD: no extras at all on this 85-minute set, but the soundtrack options, including Dolby 5.1, offer excellent clarity.--David Stubbs

• The Modern Jazz Quartet - Modern Jazz Quartet - 40 Years Of M.J.Q. | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £22.98   |  Saving you £-2.99 (-15.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Modern Jazz Quartet - 40th Anniversary Tour:Tracklisting:01. Three Windows02. Sketch03. Alexander's Fuge04. Adagio From Concerto De Aranjuez05. A Day In Dubrovnik

• Herman Brood & His Wild Romance - Live At Rockpalast | DVD | (12/03/2012) from £13.73   |  Saving you £6.26 (31.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Memory of Herman Brood (1946 - 2001)During his lifetime Herman Brood was one of the Netherland's few rock musicians who made a splash way beyond Dutch borders. With 'Saturday Night' and 'Still Believe' he made his mark in 1976 and from then on he was considered being the epitome of the 'Rock'n'Roll Animal' per se. His poignant live performances not only reflected his complex talents but also his excessive lifestyle. This DVD release contains for the first time his legendary concert for 'Rockpalast' in 1978 @Westfalenhalle, Dortmund as well as the concert in 1990 @Live Music Hall, Cologne. Comprising all highlights of a typical Herman Brood performance this release is a belated curtsey and worthy legacy to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death on July 11th 2011. Tracklisting:Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, 1978Hit Pullin' It All Out Too SlowStreet Still Believe Rock 'N' Roll Junkie Lost Waiting For My Man Back In Your Love Saturday Night Doreen Doin' It Dope Sucks/Hot Talk Turn It On One More Dose Speedo Phony Pop True Fine Mama Prisoners Skid Row Never Enough Last Mile Can't Stand It Live Music Hall, Kln 1990Blue Ice Moon Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow It Ain't The Gun Crackin' Up It's You Home Beefin' It Up Dope Sucks The Talkin' Da Do Run Run Cripple Without You Rock 'N' Roll Junkie What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted Heatwave Cut Me Loose Something Else Legal In Amsterdam Hit

• ESP - A Tribute To Miles | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Recorded live at the Jazz Open in Stuttgart in 1994, ESP 2: A Tribute to Miles features former members of Miles Davis’ bands reunited for the second time since his death in 1991. Over the course of his career, Davis led bands that included, among others, John Coltrane, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans. While the players here are frighteningly proficient, none of them are quite of that calibre and their dress sense certainly doesn't measure up to their forbears: ESP 2 are a mess of ballooning trousers and garishly mismatched shirts. It falls to saxophonist David McMurray to take the lead. Respectfully, no one replaces Miles Davis on the horn, though his familiar, muted trumpet sounds do feature on "Desiree's Desire", replicated hauntingly on sampled keyboards as if broadcast from the hereafter. The "Opening Medley" is the best thing here, recalling the frenetic crosstown fusion fury of Miles’ early 70s work. Occasionally, ESP 2 are guilty of lapsing into the somnambulant jazz-funk blandness that characterised Miles’ last work. Still there are fitful moments of beauty here--the sepulchral ambience of "Blue ‘n’ Green", for example--which distinguish this from a mere session musicians' workout, while "The Man with the Horn" affords an interlude of soulful warmth, courtesy of guest vocalist Carla Cook. Otherwise the band are as self-absorbed and uncommunicative as Davis himself notoriously was. On the DVD: A Tribute to Miles comes to disc with no extra features. The digital 5.1 soundtrack is clear as cut-glass, however, while the video aspect ratio is 4:3. --David Stubbs

• Rypdal, Vitous & Gurtu - Live | DVD | (02/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Recorded live at the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart in 1994. Tracks include: 'The Return Per Uhr' 'Centers/Genie' 'Improvisation/Gossebumps' 'Baba' 'Mountains' 'Clouds In The Mountain

• The Band From Utopia | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Tribute to the Music of Frank ZappaRecorded live at Jazzopen Stuttgart July 1994.Frank Zappa musical avant-gardist and enfant terrible was never really regarded as a jazz musician. His own attitude to jazz was relatively cynical: 'Jazz is not dead it just smells funny' and indeed much of his creative work has little to do with jazz yet its anti-commercial structure sets it apart from popular rock.As a teenager he was enthused by composer Edger Varese and as time passed his compositions were performed by respected interpreters like Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Modern and introduced to an appreciative public. Shortly after Zappa's death in December 1993 at the age of 52 the 1994 Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart approached former Zappa sidemen and asked them to stage a tribute concert. They agreed and formed 'The Band from Utopia' (Whose name recalls the album 'The Man From Utopia'). This was the first time all of these musicians collectively had taken the same stage at the same time. Many of them began their work with Zappa in the '70's and toured with the '88 band which was Zappa's final live band.