Oscar Peterson Trio: The Berlin Concert (DVD)

Oscar Peterson Trio – The Berlin Concert
DVD review by Noah Peterson

This is release of footage shot from a 1985 concert. Oscar Peterson on Piano, Neils-Henning Oersted Pederen on Bass, Martin Drew on Drums.

The packing of the DVD is very nice: higher quality case that you would expect, great cover photo, nice inside graphics, on-disc graphics are great and back cover is interesting and informative. Opening menu sequence is hip and gives you limited options to choose from. There are 3 audio formats to choose from, which I think is very nice choice and makes me think this is more for the audio than the visual experience.

The video quality (considering this is a 1985 concert) is pretty good. The music…well, it speaks for itself and I’ll get there in a minute.

The concert begins straight-off, no introduction, nothing. Oscar immediately starts the first piece and the trio gets swinging shortly. However, jazz is a team sport. I can only take so much of the “artistic” indulgences of the cinematography. There are shots of the inside of the piano, fades into nothing, lots of blurring from one hand to the other while playing the piano, capturing the reflections of the hands in the piano, etc… After about 10 minutes I’m thinking, how about letting us see the “field of play” as it were. I want to see the whole band groove. I want to see the drummer sweat, I want to see Oscar’s face as he’s playing. Hands on a piano are only interesting for so long and I was tired of it after about 3 minutes. I’m not sure what the intended format for this footage was, but it’s not a nice fit for my TV. I’m thinking letterbox would have made it more enjoyable. Of course, even pulling back to see arms and hands would have been cool to.

For all the camera angles used, the shots are funny. For many (most?) of the band shots faces are obstructed by microphones, cymbals, even the glare of reflected light from the bass at one point. If you’re going to show hands, show me the right hand of the bass player – that’s the fun one to watch. A stick on a snare isn’t fun. And a lot of those close-ups on the hands are digitally distorted.

On the bright side, they do seem to get it right about 20 minutes into. The unsteady behind the band camera shot blends with the excitement of the band perfectly and I could have used a LOT more of that. There are some nice “real” shots – the Martin and Neils-Henning looking back and forth, Oscar saying something to the two of them, sweat being wiped away, etc… but by now the band is swinging so hard I just don’t care. These cats are smokin’!

The music is great. If you like jazz, you’ll like this. If you like piano, you’ll really like this. If you like Oscar Peterson, you’ll love this. I love jazz, I play jazz and I’m certain that affects what I want to see in concert. But ultimately, I could just close my eyes and dig, but this is DVD and the video should rock. Of course, it is Oscar Peterson and I feel bad for the video crew trying to add to this performance. Nothing can compare. At about 30 minutes in, Oscar has a burning solo, where he’s laying down a be-boping, boogie-woogie in his left hand with sweat dripping of his nose and a Mosa Lisa smile on his face. Guess where the camera goes, back to his hands…c’mon guys, we’ve seen the hands. The biggest bummer about the hand shots is they are almost all from the side which takes away any sense of depth and doesn’t let you appreciate what’s really going on. If they were elevated, you could see them against the keys and watch them move up and down the keyboard as well as get a literal picture of what Oscar is playing.

Some overhead shots and frontal, group short would have been nice to see as well. I’m giving the video element of this a C minus. Overall I give this thing a “A.” Sounds good, picture is pretty good, there’s enough good shots to keep you looking and the performance is fantastic!

Oscar is flawless. Let me say it again. Oscar is flawless. He draws from his early stride influences, throws in a little boogie-woogie, tasteful bop, modern harmonic flavorings, quotes from “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and lots of other recognizable favorites. Neils-Henning Pedersen is a natural fit on bass and Martin Drew perfectly rounds out this trio. The trio swings hard and uses space to let the melodies speak. They are tight, transitions are precise and the solos vary from “choptastic” to melodically captivating to brilliantly tasty to just plain cool. In “Part 2” when they’re trading four’s (alternating short solos) it’s more like a night-club show than a performance at the Berlin Philharmonie, but I dug that too. I almost paused it to go get myself a scotch to properly enjoy it. Which makes me think this would be a great DVD to get a fellow jazz lover or 3 together to watch with a bottle of your favorite whatever. Jazz virtuosity at its best.