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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: DTS 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
  • None
  Extras
  • 3 Additional footage - Rehearsals
  • 2 Music video
Diana Krall - Live in Paris
Eagle Vision/Warner Vision . R4 . COLOR . 130 mins . E . PAL

  Feature
Contract

This is a long awaited DVD for Diana Krall fans, especially with her current album Look of Love becoming a strong crossover hit. Look Of Love and this DVD are departures in style from her past strengths. Her speciality is ‘torch’ songs of which the arrangement is ‘spare’, that is the performance is often just solo piano, vocals and perhaps limited beat percussion.

This is Diana live in Paris late last year (November if I am remembering right), giving us a remarkably quick turn around time for the DVD release. This is a large, lush polished production with the Orchestre Symphonique Europeen & Paris Jazz Big Band and not one, but two conductors. She also has her own jazz accompaniment for the smaller numbers. Some of her hardcore fans are not going to like this ‘big band’ style, although some of the more intimate numbers try hard to imitate a jazz setting to varying degrees of success.

It is hard to review any music disc without “critiquing” the music itself. I have said before that there are two types of live music performance - one is where the performer strives to replicate the released music album as closely as possibly (sometimes with the use of a vocal track!). Others like to ‘reinterpret’ the music for their own style. The performance may be so unique that that style of arrangement is never performed like that again.

Diana Krall, like many jazz musicians, is in the latter category as one must interpret ‘jazz standards’ and in doing so, one makes Nat King Cole’s or Frank Sinatra’s or Burt Bacharach’s songs their own (Krall has done a disc full of Nat King Cole songs).

Some people like the live performance to be identical to the released album; this is the ultimate ‘what you see is what you get’ - it can make for some very sterile performances however.

Let me say that the arrangements and orchestrations here are completely different to any of her past performances, with the tempo, emphasis, nuances and phrasing all largely changed. Songs that are strongly lyrical are now perhaps more instrumental. I would say Diana spends more time playing on some tracks than singing, so much so that there are instrument solos here that are ‘missing’ (as it were) on the original track. Slow songs are now jumped up several notches in speed and some songs sound much more relaxed than the CD tracks.

It is this variation that jazz lovers revel in. I might say, “the track is good on the CD, but you should hear the version on the DVD”. I guess this will be stated a lot when this DVD gets into mass circulation, because some of the tracks have already become my favourite ‘versions’.

The seventeen tracks are a good selection from several of her past albums, although the emphasis is more on the recent ones. As always, there are one or two tracks that I wish were there but that’s the nature of these almost ‘best of’ performances. I wonder if there’s more footage somewhere?

Track List:

  1. I Love Being Here With You
  2. All Or Nothing
  3. Let’s Fall In Love
  4. The Look Of Love
  5. Maybe You’ll Be There
  6. Deed I Do
  7. Devil May Care
  8. Cry Me A River
  9. Under My Skin
  10. East Of The Sun
  11. I Get Along
  12. Pick Yourself Up
  13. S’Wonderful
  14. Love Letters
  15. I Don’t Know Enough About You
  16. Do It Again
  17. A Case Of You

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

This is a high quality anamorphic 1.78:1 feature. The overall look is fine, the colours are rich, the browns of the wood instruments and strings, the sheeny black of the piano finish versus the flatter black of the tuxedos and Diana’s leather jacket. The darkness levels are strong, with excellent shadow and solid detailed blacks. It has my favourite feature which is translucent smoke.

Skin tones are excellent, with the older male performers looking suitably lined - it is sharp enough to pick out individual hairs. There are close ups of Diana and the piano keyboard as she plays and you can see why she’s been called the ‘thinking man’s Britney Spears’, as much as many people hate that.

The production looks to have used high quality DV or video cams as there are trademarks like some staircasing and aliasing on guitar necks, piano keys and bows. There is also isolated bloom/bleed especially with some of the coloured highlights.

There is a stylistic device that I’m certain will get up the nose of many people. Because it is ‘Paris’ the producers have decided to intercut various scenes of the Paris streetscape into the concert. They are drab, grainy clips of the Triompe, the Tripartite, the Parisienne boulevardes and tree-lined avenues. I am expecting the Eiffel Tower to pop up soon! “Paris in Autumn” is what I call it - personally I don’t like it, but it’s there so... One part I do like is the rehearsal footage that's also interleaved into the concert.

Shooting style is consistent and intelligent with no jarring angles or cuts, whilst the lighting is low but intimate. Crowd shots are limited with the band and orchestra as the focus.

Sonically there are three tracks, a 224k Dolby Digital stereo track, a 448k/s Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a 768k/s DTS track. The stereo track is largely just under CD quality. I suggest the downmixed Dolby 5.1 track may be a better choice for the extended bit rate.

Firstly, rear speaker use is limited to very faint audience and ambience. For me it’s pretty much a front channel performance; I would be a bit offended if there was a strong rear channel element in a jazz type setting. The audience participation is limited but it's welcome when it happens.

Thankfully the “Audio” button can be used to cycle between the formats and it is immediately apparently what happens when you jump from stereo, to DD 5.1 and then to DTS (that is the track sequence).

Vocals are not impacted so much, which is of course natural given the lack of vocals in the pieces. Sure they are perhaps more ragged and the sibilance strengthens. What you do lose is the ‘live’ aspect of the piece and the instruments become much more ‘comical’. The piano and double bass lose their strength and lower registers. LFE is limited to that. This is a shame as they are so prominent here, especially in the numerous instrument solos. Instrument separation is strong as it is; when the solos get going (i.e. jazz guitar, double bass and the piano) the extended DTS resolution is welcome. I would note that some people have complained that Diana’s Steinway grand piano is slightly in the right channel more prominently (it visibly takes up the entire right stage physically!). It is noticeable, especially in extended solos, but it doesn't greatly bother me. Can one complain if the soundstage is correct?

About that soundstage, it is diminished with the stereo track, perhaps those ‘subtle’ rears are missed here in setting ambience. Avoid the stereo track, the Dolby 5.1 track isn’t bad but you’ll be wanting the DTS 5.1 track as the standard.

Jazz is awful when it becomes jarring due to an indifferent digital recording, the DTS track is anything but, providing a smooth, relaxing detailed performance. The layer change is intelligently between tracks. It is also not region coded.

Any extras on a music DVD are a bonus really. The extras here are limited, however the quality is very good.

The are two music videos added on that have nothing to do with the main performance. They both have that ‘MTV sheen’ of a high dollar, well produced music video. Both are Dolby stereo at 224k/s and of listenable ‘close to CD’ quality and both are identical to the CD tracks (i.e. they are standard studio releases).

Look of Love is framed 4:3 and you wish ‘Video Hits’ on FTA looked this good. Let’s Face the Music and Dance is 2.35:1 anamorphic and of a similar quality. You can see the long hours the producers spent creating the appropriate ‘image’. Both are standard track length. I don’t terribly mind the Dolby Stereo as they are the actual CD tracks.

However, the best extra is a good one. Included is a just under 16 minute rehearsal and this is something that more music discs should have. It is of identical quality to the main production, that is, it is anamorphic and it has a DTS 5.1 track. It is much more casual, impromptu even, with performers in plain clothes and the performance is just as good if not better. Three songs are featured, Do It Again, Look of Love and Love Letters. You can contrast the differences between these tracks and the ones in the main feature - these differences are there, even if they are slight. It is not chaptered, alas, however at least the menus and intro clip are stylishly understated.

I don’t see how any lover of jazz and bossa nova cannot wind up buying this. Technically it’s excellent - I could want for a full bitrate DTS track and you can swap the Dolby Stereo track for a purist PCM track, but that’s neither here nor there.

The performances are uniformly fresh and excellent – with the ‘old’ songs sounding so new and exciting in their execution. Personally I do not mind that ‘bigness’ of the performances, whereas some people do not like the use of a jazz band and orchestra - but it’s one interpretation and a good one.

The video quality is excellent and the sound is close to perfect. There are lots of songs included within the 130 minutes and the rehearsal footage is a great bonus. I haven’t had this disc for very long, but I love it already - an absolute pleasure to review.


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  •   And I quote...
    "A stunningly fresh performance with anamorphic video and DTS sound... a must buy for jazz fans"
    - Tony Lai
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Rom:
          Pioneer 105(s)
    • MPEG Card:
          Geforce2 32MB AGP
    • Decoder:
          Sony TA-E9000ES
    • Amplifier:
          Parasound HCA-1206THX
    • Speakers:
          Mission 763
    • Centre Speaker:
          Mission 75c
    • Surrounds:
          Mission 760
    • Subwoofer:
          Mission 75as
    • Audio Cables:
          rca coaxial SPDIF
    • Video Cables:
          VGA connector
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