Poncho Sanchez - Poncho at Montreux [DVD]

I actually liked the cut in sequences mentioned in the previous review.. having not being to a poncho concert or being too familiar with him, it gives you that little extra between songs letting you understand the musician behind the music.

besides that the quality of music and video are awesome, you turn up the volume on a good home theater and really get involved by it.

highly recommended!

what we have here is a live concert recorded at the montreux jazz festival in sweden, probably recorded in late 03 or early 04. this tour was in support of ponchos last studio release- out of sight. i was lucky (actually, i should say privilidged) enough to see this tour at bbkings blues club in new york city and so i had an idea what to expect on this dvd. i tell you my first reaction to the dvd was like something was missing, because i know to really appreciate poncho and his band you have to see and hear them live in the flesh. there is a certain intangible energy that can not be reproduced on a recorded medium. when you experince the vibrations of the conga live its like no other. the bbkings show i saw was the third time i had seen poncho in the past few years and he just gets better all the time. the seven songs included on the dvd are all lively up-tempo numbers and poncho and the band perform terrifically, although i feel they could have thrown in another song or two. the songs are one mint julip, el shing-a-ling, guaripumpe, i showed them (with dave samuels on vibes), conmico, out of sight, and watermelon man. actually now that i have watched and listened to the dvd over the past several days i appreciate it a lot more. the music is five star plus, plus, plus, but since this is a dvd i have to judge it on its visual content as well. the lighting, camera coverage and angles, and film clarity are all very good, roughly four stars. the editing is two, maybe three stars at best. i dont like at all the way they splice in interviews between each song. (after a song ends you get a brief interview then another song starts. none of the songs are interupted midway thru.) its distracting and it kind of takes away from the musical momentum of the show. all the interviews should have been compiled in the special features portion of the dvd. to me editing is key when producing these live dvds. the editor should be intimate with the music and spotlight the musician who is soloing and"hold the focus". all too frequently the camera is jumping around when you really want it to stay still so you can see the soloist. i also thought poncho should have been featured more prominentaly in some of the songs but he is not. poncho is a very charasmatic person and you always find yourself looking for him in all the frames. i saw poncho at the blue note in nyc and i sat about two feet away from him at the edge of the stage! man it was just awesome to watch him pound out those beautiful rythyms! he is the guy you go to see! its hard to look away! im not saying the editing was all bad but im sure some of you know what im saying. on the positive, the editing was not that frenetic mtv style one thousand frames a minute. thank you for that! also there are these weird little special effects like fire at the bottom of the screen in sequence to the beat of the music and others odd designs that i thought could have been left out. the special features are ok although a little on the short side. in one featurette poncho talks about his taped up fingers and mongo santamaria. i really liked this and wished there was more. the ending credits was cool too. poncho walks off stage and a camera follows him and as he walks down this hallway. he comes upon this water cooler (the kind with the large upside down bottle) and starts wailing on it! its just the kind of thing that if you did it, whoever you were with would probably yell at you to stop. (i know this from experience) anyway, i recommend this dvd and all things poncho. sambia!

Poncho is getting up there in age and his explosiveness is not quite what it was, but he makes up for it with the song selections and his acute knowledge of when to play and when not to play. When he does play it is simply elegant. He is like and old martial artist who uses his knowledge rather than his strength and speed to win the contest. Poncho, the complete percussionist, even today, with few rivals. This is a must have in your DVD collection.