Chris Barber ""Hot Jazz Festival"" Available on DVD January 20, 2004

Through Music Video Distributors

9-Dec-03

Music Video Distributors and Inakustik are pleased to announce the home viewing release of Chris Barber ñ Hot Jazz Festival for North American distribution on DVD.Chris Barber is one of the most important pioneers of European jazz. This DVD celebrates his fiftieth anniversary as a professional musician. Recorded at Germanyís Hot Jazz Festival 2002, he presents his new, eleven-piece Big Chris Barber Band. And what a pleasure it is! The trombonist and his virtuoso band mates confidently switch between New Orleans jazz and a tribute to the great Duke Ellington, playing swinging blues, and managing to inject new life into old favorites.Chris Barber was not slow in discovering the blues. With is friend Harold Pendleton, the two men founded the club Marquee, which started as a purely jazz venue and later became a musical institution on the London scene. Bands such as The Who, the Rolling Stones and even punk band the Sex Pistols all made early appearances at the Marquee. Shortly after opening the club, Barber and Pendleton founded the îNational Jazz & Blues Festival,î another musical institution, which blossomed in the late sixties under the name îReading Rock Festivalî and had a considerable influence on the European rock scene. Chris Barber allowed himself a brief flirtation with rhythm íní blues but quickly returned to mainstream jazz. He landed a second major hit with his version of the Dixieland classic îIce Cream.î According to statistics to-date, the trombonist has recorded 22 different versions of îIce Creamî on over 100 CDs. This DVD features version 23 and it is certainly no exaggeration to say that this is the most sophisticated version he has ever recorded. The likeable Britain also brings new dimensions to a second jazz standard: He dusted off îSweet Georgia Brownî during his set at the îHot Jazz Festivalî in 2002 breathing new life into the old number.This DVD documents the other side of Chris Barber - his love of the music of the unforgettable Duke Ellington. Together with his 11-strong band ñ The Big Chris Barber Band ñ featuring long-term collaborators such as Pat Halcox (trumpet), Mike îMagicî Henry (trumpet), Bob Hunt (trombone), the saxophonists/clarinetists John Defferary, John Crocker and Tony Carter, guitarist John Slaughter, Paul Sealey (banjo, guitar), bassist Vic Pitt and drummer Colin Miller ñ he improvises on classic Ellington tracks such as îJungle Nights In Harlemî with bravura and passion. Cannonball Adderley and King Oliver would be pleased with Chris Barberës versions of their songs îMercy Mercy Mercyî and îChimes Bluesî which have become standards. The Englishman manages the difficult task of combining historical accuracy and modern mainstream jazz with nonchalant ease.