Best Concert Videos

Russell Fox selects his five favorite concert videos which he boldly terms the greatest ever.  Russell writes that he has been on a convert video binge and discusses some very worthy videos that didn't make his cut.

Here are Russell's picks: The Last Waltz, Rattle and Hum, Shine a Light, Stop Making Sense, and Woodstock.

I'm not prepared to put forward my five best, but there a few prime candidates that Russell missed.

Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll 

 a 1987 documentary film directed by Taylor Hackford that chronicles two 1986 concerts celebrating rock and roll musician Chuck Berry's 60th birthday.  Interaction of  Chuck and Rolling Stone Keith
Richard is a real highlight of the movie.



 

 Jazz on a Summer's Day

Set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, and filmed and directed by noted commercial and fashion photographer Bert Stern and the film director Aram Avakian, who also edited the movie. The film features performances by Jimmy Giuffre, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Anita O'Day, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, and others.

 Jazz 34

 When Robert Altman made his 1996 movie Kansas City, he did a Altmanesque creative move--he brought in 21 of the greatest young jazz musicians, recreated the ambiance of a KC jam session, and filmed them over several days. The result was several key scenes in the movie, two great CDs (soundtrack and KC After Dark) and the Jazz 34 video of the jam sessions.