[Dixielandjazz] Stephane Grappelli DVD

[David W. Littlefield]

>From another mailing list:

"The BEST Jazz DVD of 2002 (and the years not over yet!) -  By chance I 
heard of a new video documentary on jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli a few 
months ago. I was literally blown away when I popped the first of the two 
DVD discs in my player. British producer Judy Caine and Director Paul Balmer 
literally mortgaged their house to fund the project to document the life of 
Grappelli, which spanned near all of the 20th century. As he was nearing 90, 
Grappelli agreed to sit for an extensive interview in his Paris home and 
Balmer shot for 3 consecutive days. Since Grappelli was already playing, and 
a member of the musicians union, by age 15 (1923) and played until just 
before his death, his life spanned the history of jazz. Okay, the 2-hour 
documentary, Stephane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz Century which was 
picked up by the BBC for broadcast is full of wonderful performance 
footage and interviews with folks like Yehudi Menuhin and new-wave violinist 
Nigel Kennedy, but the extras on this set are the real gems. There are seven 
rare music videos including Grappelli in a 1920s music hall setting, a 
previously lost 1948 film of Grappelli with George Shearing, the rarest 
footage of Grappelli with his partner Django Reinhardt, and various 
outtakes. Add to this a music video juke box, the fascinating story of how 
the film was made, and a snapshot gallery of Grappelli private photo 
collection (he had over 1500!) and there are almost four hours of great 
material here. To my knowledge the DVD , which is available in NTSC format 
to play on US televisions, is not distributed yet in the US. But you can 
order direct from the Producer via the internet at www.musiconearth.co.uk. 
If you love classic jazz, you really need this set. If you know someone else 
who does, order one for a holiday gift. I can safely say, you wont be 
disappointed."

Someone added that they'd ordered it on-line and received it in the US
within 10 days, and just loved it.

--Sheik