Album Review

Joe Viglione [allmusic.com]

Scott Cossu's light fingerwork sounds great as he caresses the Baldwin piano on Islands, part of the Some Call It Jazz series that the U.K. Quantum Leap video company is releasing via Music Video Distributors. This vintage performance was recorded live at the Main Street Independence Day Weekend Jazz Festival in 1986 -- and it is really on the street -- so much so that the camerawork shifts from tight close-ups of the hands and face to visually awkward glimpses of the artist from the crowd or under the open lid of the piano. The street is jammed, which makes for a rather unique DVD -- not your usual three-camera shoot from the stage. The playing is superb, as one would expect from these individuals, and despite some shaky camerawork and strange image crossfades, this DVD, along with The Ernie Watts Quartet Live, is one of the better outings in the Some Call It Jazz series. Van Manakas' flamenco new age guitar plays majestically next to Cossu, the odd camera angles not taking away from their intense musical involvement. Eddie Wood provides fine percussion and the 46 and a half minutes, directed by Gregg Kubera, have the always dependable audio of Don Rice to make this an excellent sonic presentation.