Mainly putting aside his Smooth Jazz tendencies for this December 2005 concert in favor of a more traditional Jazz approach, Chris Botti and his ensemble appear here with a full orchestra and guest vocalists. Botti doesn't break any new ground -- he stays with the very familiar popular songbook tradition -- and his music remains very much in the realm of commercial, crossover Jazz, but he wears his traditional Jazz influences proudly -- particularly in the many instrumental performances.
Listening to the performance of Botti, his Jazz ensemble, and the full orchestra during this concert, one cannot help but hear the heavy influence of the Jazz greats who have gone before and traveled this very same territory; think Charlie Parker With Strings, Wynton Marsalis Hot House Flowers, or Miles Davis Kind of Blue, and you'll start to form an idea in your mind of exactly where Botti was drawing his inspiration.
Botti certainly displays a wonderful mastery of his instrument, but he is always careful to never overwhelm his audience with too many displays of technical wizardry -- the occasional trill, a passing squeal -- after all, this is the man whose records have gone gold. His audience is not the likely to be the jazz aficionado crowd that's going to sit through a 12-minute atonal solo. The soccer moms in the crowd might start to riot.
The concert, though made up of easily palatable Jazz, is not without its good moments and is never bland, much to my surprise. I am very grateful that the Smooth Jazz, as I have previously mentioned, was basically left off the play list, but for the exception of some mildly R&B-ish type duets of certain Jazz classics, such as the rousing "Good Morning Heartache" with Jill Scott and the even more tastefully done "Lover Man" with Gladys Knight, the latter being one of the highlight duets of the entire evening.
Other highlights of the show include moving instrumental takes on the standards "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "When I Fall in Love," an almost giddy Renee Olstead singing "Pennies from Heaven" and a duet with Paul Buchanan (The Blue Nile) in a heart-rending version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
The Picture
Recorded and mastered in high definition and presented in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, there is every reason in the world why this release should look superb; pristine, actually, but, alas, it does not. Granted, the picture quality on this disc looks vastly superior to the over-the-air high definition broadcast of this concert on the local PBS station that I saw, which suffered from severe macroblocking issues that are no longer present on this release. It is also vastly superior to the same concert I saw broadcast on HDNet via DirecTV, which also suffered from macroblocking and was very soft, lacking in resolution.
The problem with this Blu-ray Disc release is something different entirely. Now, with the bandwidth limited issues of MPEG-2 broadcasts removed and no more macroblocking and softness resulting from the loss of resolution, I can clearly see another issue with the recording -- video noise. Video noise is pervasive on this release. As the set is darkly lit throughout and the noise tends to show mostly in the darker areas, it is everywhere and it is distracting, giving the entire picture an overall gritty look about it.
Unfortunately, the video noise is not the worst of the problems. There is edge enhancement throughout the presentation. It is most noticeable on the floor of the stage immediately surrounding the Jazz ensemble's performance space and on the sheet music in front of the musicians. Occasionally it can also be seen showing up in the lights at the front of the stage. There is never any excuse for the use of edge enhancement in a video transfer; it is particularly dreadful when done in a high definition release.
The Sound
Sony-BMG have provided Dolby Digital stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, and uncompressed PCM 5.1 (96kHz/24-bit) options for this release. The 96kHz/24-bit 5.1 PCM soundtrack is superbly mixed, mastered and recorded. Providing an audience perspective, using the rear channels for ambient reverberation rather than discretely placing instrumentation in either channel; the mix is quite tasteful. The sound, as is fitting for the performance space, is big and open, as opposed to intimate, and it works for the material and performance.
The crowd noise is kept to a minimum and is never distracting. Midrange frequencies are well defined, vocals are smooth, coming through the mix with great clarity and the low frequencies are well balanced and never become boomy. Botti's trumpet is captured superbly, from the lowest, warm sounding part of its register to the highest piercing tones, it always sounds alive, and natural - almost as if you are there in the concert hall listening to him play. It's an overall well-recorded, mixed and mastered soundtrack for this Blu-ray Disc release.
The Extras
There are a few extras in this release, but nothing outside of the additional performance of "Message in a Bottle" featuring Sting (standard definition/16:9) will be worth watching more than once.
The bonus features include "Behind the Scenes: Chris Botti Live," a making of featurette with interview segments and behind the scenes footage of bringing the concert together, "The Musicians," is a behind the scenes look at Botti's band, having brief interview segments with each member, "Interview with Chris," an interview with Botti where he recounts the events leading up to the three concerts documented on this release, and "Chris and Sting Introduction," where the two musicians briefly recount how they met one another.
Final Thoughts
After watching this Blu-ray Disc release I have a new found respect for Chris Botti as a musician. Admittedly, Smooth Jazz is one of my least favorite genres of music. Personally, I don't consider the genre to be Jazz at all, but Botti has shown me that he is a much more capable musician than the Kenny Gs of the world. He should explore the world of traditional Jazz much more fully, because something tells me he may be capable of producing a classic.
This Blu-ray Disc also offers one of the most wonderfully recorded uncompressed PCM soundtracks available from any high definition music release. Sadly, the picture quality does not live up to the same standards, but this release is more about the musical performance than the visuals so the picture, though flawed, is adequate for these purposes. I recommend this release to any true music lover.
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