Dave Grusin Presents West Side Story

Dave Grusin Presents West Side Story

ASIN: B000001YO7

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
West Side Story's freshness and spirit have captivated audiences time and time again... For jazz musicians, West Side Story's music was hip then and is still hip now. It's timeless!

Forty years after the opening of WEST SIDE STORY on Broadway, Grammy award-winning composer/arranger and pianist Dave Grusin jazzes up the themes from this timeless classic. Grusin's arrangements are performed by a top-notch big band (with strings) headlined by such instrumental and vocal greats as Arturo Sandoval, Gloria Estefan, Bill Evans, Jonathan Butler, Jon Secada, and Dave Valentin. The mainstream jazz, Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms bring new life to this musical masterpiece in DTS 5.1 Digital Surround.

5.1 Producer: Phil Ramone 5.1 Mixed By: Frank Fillipetti --This text refers to the DVD Audio edition.

Tracks:

Prologue
Something's Coming
The Jet Song
Maria
Cool
Tonight
I Feel Pretty
One Hand, One Heart
Somewhere
America

Product Description

West Side Story's freshness and spirit have captivated audiences time and time again... For jazz musicians, West Side Story's music was hip then and is still hip now. It's timeless! Forty years after the opening of WEST SIDE STORY on Broadway, Grammy award-winning composer/arranger and pianist Dave Grusin jazzes up the themes from this timeless classic. Grusin's arrangements are performed by a top-notch big band (with strings) headlined by such instrumental and vocal greats as Arturo Sandoval, Gloria Estefan, Bill Evans, Jonathan Butler, Jon Secada, and Dave Valentin. The mainstream jazz, Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms bring new life to this musical masterpiece in DTS 5.1 Digital Surround. 5.1 Producer: Phil Ramone 5.1 Mixed By: Frank Fillipetti

Customer Reviews:

West SIde Story - Better than the original.......2007-03-19

I have owned this DVD for many years, and decided to look for more like it. When I saw some of the negative reviews, I just had to write mine. These people generally do NOT understand jazz, or the basis for it. Jazz transforms the normal into something special when done well. I never liked West Side Story until I saw and heard this interpretation. I originally bought it as a gift for my wife, not because of any interest by me. It has become one of my favorite DVD's, and I kept it.

This is a must have for real jazz enthusiasts! Grusin hits the center of the bullseye with this.

The best side!.......2006-02-26

A fanantastic album, a sensational interpretation of Bernsteins music, excellent for listening to if you know the origional music well.

dissapointing!!!!!.......2006-01-05

I already owned the cd when i saw the dvd. If you hoping to watch a musical performance or hoping to see the musicians in action, you will be dissapointed like me. so Don't waste your money, what you get is simply graphics like those you see in display in an EQ or your car stereo systems eq effect display. Just get the cd would be good enough.

Great recording.......2001-12-04

I must admit, Dave Grusin is one of my favourite musicians. I alway liked the "original" two-channel recording. But this DTS recording gives you even more excitement! Once you are addicted to multi-channel music you will hardly accept/like conventional recordings anymore.
With this album high quality music goes together with high quality recording...

You will like Grusin’s interpretation of the original, but.........2001-08-13

Just in case you did not know, this is Dave Grusin’s version of some of the music themes of West Side Story original film with music by Leonard Bernstein (a masterpiece)....I like Dave Grusin. I have heard that some pure jazz fans do not have him in there grater esteem (perhaps they see him as a kind of modern Glen Miller), but I find most of his music and arrangements tasteful, balanced, adequate and easy to listen to (that is maybe why some don’t like him, but he manages to make his jazz style accessible to most audiences). He made for example a very good job with his interpretations of Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini’s music. He also has a delicate, distinctive and personal way of playing the piano (which I like) that makes his performances very recognizable. Well, his adaptation of West Side Story’s music is not an exception. It lacks the strength and vitality of the original but many might prefer it and consider it up to modern standards (or fashion). Even if your personal musical taste is such that you might not be very fond of the original score (I love it), I bet you will like this version which I suppose must be reachable and enjoyable by almost everybody. If you like Jon Secada, Gloria Stefan and Jonathan Butler, well, they sing some themes. Also, many other great and renown musicians participate. But be aware, the music is OK but the visual scenes going with it are mostly disappointing and seem out of place. I would have expected to see more of the musicians playing, maybe more of the film’s steady pictures (they use a few), why not some bits of the film, or even some sort of video clips matching the rhythm (the kind you can normally see nowadays on TV going together with almost any song). Instead, although you get some glances of the musicians while recording or of Dave Grusin conducting or playing the piano, there are two musical themes which go with a made up visual story that has to do with absolutely nothing, in most themes you constantly get flashing images of kind of psychedelic (and disturbing) lightings of what I guess might be the graphical representation of the sound waves, and with the “I Love to be in America” song you get different pictures of representative sceneries and buildings of America and Dave Grusin walking around and smiling in a country environment (which I suppose is his way of saying that he also loves America). I must warn you, at times it gets even annoying. Perhaps you just ought to go for the CD version (just the music). Anyway, the music and its interpretation are OK and I think you will like them. I, by all means, would recommend the original movie DVD (but you’d better check the reviews first, before you make up your mind)....

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Jazz Music

Jazz Music