The Life of a Jazz Guitar Icon
Jazz Hermit | Tucson, AZ United States | 02/04/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Jim Hall is the grand old man of Jazz Guitar, a player that bridges the gap between the big-band era guitarists and more modern practictioners of the art. This video/DVD starts with a visit to the recording sessions for Hall's "By Arrangement" CD, covers a lot of history including clips of him playing with Chico Hamilton's group and the Jimmy Giuffre trio. Those video clips alone are more than worth the price.
Interviews with several musicians that played on By Arrangement are also included, with Pat Metheny being the high point. Some great footage of Jim talking to the late John Lewis is also included. Clips showing Hall's upstate NY weekend home, his wife, his daughter and even their little dust-mop of a dog give you a picture of him not just as a player but as a human. Mr. Hall comes across as a very nice fellow, a man whose personality is every bit as warm as the music he plays.
I recently bought the DVD edition of this and it came as a double side disk, one side being PAL encoded for Europe with the other side being NTSC encoded for North America.
"