DVD of the Day - "Herbie Hancock & Milton Nascimento: Jazz Under The Skies"

DVD of the Day
Herbie Hancock, Milton Nascimento, Al Jarreau, David Sanborn & Marcus Miller: "Jazz Under The Skies" (Immortal)

Produced for release by John Matarazzo, head of Hudson Street Entertainment group, this 109-minute long DVD includes highlights from the 1990 and 1991 issues of the now defunct Live Under The Sky jazz festival. Filmed in Tokyo, starts with an all-star quartet - Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Dave Holland (on electric bass!) and Jack DeJohnette - performing "Jack In". Milton Nascimento's band, featuring keyboardist Tulio Mourão, drummer Robertinho Silva and percussionists Ronaldo Silva & Vanderlei Silva (Robertinho's sons), offers "Txai," "Yauaretê," "Bola de Meia, Bola de Gude," "Nos Bailes da Vida" and "Maria, Maria."
Next comes Al Jarreau with a wonderful rendition of Chick Corea's "Spain" (lyrics by Artie Maren and Jarreau himself), including stunning solos by Joe Sample and Steve Gadd. Songstress Miki Howard joins Jarreau's group for "Everybody Is A Star" and "Hey Jude," with the support of Lenny Castro, Freddy Washington, Philippe Saisse and Buzz Feiten.
Instant crowd-pleaser David Sanborn brings the house down (actually, it was an "open air" festival) with the big help of late guitarist Hiram Bullock on "Soul Serenade" (Bullock jumps from the stage to perform his massive solo running among the audience) and "Chicago Song." The backing band also includes the late percussionist Don Alias, plus Tom Barney on bass, Ricky Peterson on Hammond, and Buddy Williams on drums.
Marcus Miller's equally explosive set opens with "Run For Cover," followed by "Bones Jive," Donny Hatthaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free" (vocals by Donny's daughter, Lalah Hattaway) and Joe Sample's "Burnin' Up The Carnival" (from Sample's album "Voices in the Rain"), with Poogie Bell on drums, Dean Brown on guitar, and Michael "Patches" Stewart on trumpet, among others.
Completing the compilation, Milton Nascimento performs "Don Quixote" (a song I introduced to Creed Taylor in 1991, for recordings by Art Farmer and Charles Fambrough) and "Milagre dos Peixes" (one of the highlights from Wayne Shorter's 1974 "Native Dancer" album) backed by Shorter himself, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke and Robertinho Silva. Nice memories from a recent past.