An Evening with Joe Pass

Rating:
Summary: My Dinner with Joe
Review: When I popped in this DVD, I had no inkling that it was, in large part, an instructional video. Now you know. It's not quite "An Evening with Joe Pass" in the sense of "My Dinner with Andre," but it is certainly not the concert video that one might expect from the title.

This DVD takes way too much time to deliver the goods, whether one expects recital or lesson. The scenes of Joe setting up for rehearsals would not be all that bad, except for the editor's penchant for trying to "jazz up" the proceedings by, paradoxically, cutting out much of the jazz. I thought if I heard one more brilliant solo snipped off just as it began to heat up, I might personally go to the editor's house for a "talk." That, coupled with an inexplicable tendency to show Pass in black/white and in slow-mo while he played, made for a rough start.

The nature of the video became clearer to me when the interview began. Joe sits down for a few minutes after rehearsal with some Guitar Institute pedagogue. The interview was relatively uneventful and not particularly insightful. It was basically a short, live version of the average "Downbeat" or "Jazziz" coverage. Certainly not worth taking up valuable time during which we could be listening to some actual GUITAR MUSIC!

As the concert itself finally began, my heart melted a bit. Joe shows himself to deserve his mantles of "genius," "virtuoso," etc. on even the most familiar tunes. If you don't really feel a need to hear "Satin Doll" or "Stella by Starlight" again, Pass will prove you wrong. He is a master of the "fill," those flourishes and colors that link the individual phrases and notes of a melody. He makes tunes his own, without coming off as flashy or overly busy.

Guitar players will enjoy the intimacy of the videography: tight shots, well-lit, with the fingers in full view. It might not make for an exciting documentary, however, for fellow viewers not drooling over the licks. So get `em a magazine or something.

Later in the video the music is interrupted yet again for audience Q&A. These questions are slightly more interesting than the earlier interviewer, but only for those who are versed in the language of music theory. Talk of 9ths, dominants, II-V, and the like, will lose some viewers (even some musicians.) Watching JP demonstrate his answers on the guitar is enough to make this section worth watching, even if you don't get all the lingo.

I hope that there are other available Pass videos with more music. The concert footage here was just enough to leave me hungry for a whole video shot with the intimacy seen here.