This listing is for The Manhattan Transfer Vocalese Live 1986 LaserDisc LD PS-87-020.

Country: USA   
Released: 1987
Publisher: Pioneer Artists
Price: $29.98 USD
UPC: 013023221871
Category: Jazz
Color: Color
Length: 80 min.
Sides: 2
Chapters: 19
Size: 12"
Picture: Video
Ratio: 1.33:1
Plastic: Transparent
Cover: Standard  

Vocal magicians extraordinaire, The Manhattan Transfer--Cheryl Bentyne, Tim Hauser, Alan Paul and Janis Siegel--show their unique skills in this spectacular performance live at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Songs: Four Brothers, Rambo, Meet Benny Baily, Airegin, To You, Sing Joy Spring, Move, That's Killer Joe, The Duke of Dubuque, Gloria, Heart's Desire, Birdland, On the Boulevard, Shaker Song, Java Jive, Blue Champagne, How High the Moon, Boy From New York City, Ray's Rockhouse.

The Manhattan Transfer flex their jazz muscles in this 80-minute, 19-song concert, recorded over two nights in Tokyo in 1986. The quartet (Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel, Alan Paul, and Cheryl Bentyne) were touring in support of their hit Vocalese album, and much of the show is devoted to that style, which consists of singing words over existing jazz instrumentals. Tunes by Woody Herman, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, and others feature lyrics by Jon Hendricks, one of the pioneers of vocalese; it's a bravura performance, with all four singers effortlessly negotiating the torrents of words and tricky melodies. The remainder of the concert includes several Transfer favorites, like "Birdland," "Java Jive," and "The Boy from New York City," and features enough costume and set changes to sustain visual as well as musical interest. All in all, a satisfying set sure to appeal to Manhattan Transfer devotees.

LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known as simply "DiscoVision") in North America in 1978.  Although the format was capable of offering higher-quality video and audio than its consumer rivals, the VHS and Betamax videocassette systems, LaserDisc never managed to gain widespread use in North America, largely due to high costs for the players and video titles themselves and the inability to record TV programming. It also remained a largely obscure format in Europe and Australia. By contrast, the format was much more popular in Japan and in the more affluent regions of Southeast Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, being the prevalent rental video medium in Hong Kong during the 1990s. Its superior video and audio quality did make it a somewhat popular choice among videophiles and film enthusiasts during its lifespan.

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