Review of Jazz Channel Presents Lou Rawls, The

Introduction

Although primarily known as a Soul/R&B artist, Lou Rawls has, in his career, tried his hand at Gospel, Blues and Jazz. Rawls has the talent and vocal range to be very good in all of these settings. He has a rich, deep voice which is equally at home with exuberant up tempo numbers as soulful ballads. However, despite being undeniably talented, most of his albums from the last 20 years are rather disappointing. This was largely due to unsympathetic record companies who would try and record Rawls in inappropriate soul/pop settings. Rawls` best, in my eyes anyway, was his records for the Philadelphia label in the late 70s.

I was pleased to see a number of Philly tracks on this live DVD. I was even more pleased to see that the set list almost totally ignores any recent material and focuses on songs that Rawls recorded before 1980. His best, in other words.

The material on this DVD was originally recorded for the US Jazz cable channel BET On Jazz. The setting is the BET studio in Washington DC but this has been made to look like a sophisticated supper club. Rawls was singing all his old favourites, the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves, and so did I.

Video

Given that this was originally filmed for US cable television, you would expect a basic 4:3 presentation and that is exactly what you get. Transfer quality is slightly above average but not as good as, say, James Taylor at the Beacon. The image is slightly soft and there is some smearing during fast movement. Nothing to detract from your enjoyment of the DVD, though.

This is a fairly conventional account of a concert in an intimate club setting and is functional, if a little dull.

Audio

Like most DVDs from Image Entertainment now, this DVD has a DTS track to accompany the expected DD 5.1 and Stereo. Not that you’d really notice though. The sound is good – warm, rich and clear – everything you would want and expect from a Soul/Jazz concert but it is really a 2-channel affair. On both the DD 5.1 and DTS tracks, the sound is mostly confined to the two front speakers. Of the two, the DTS is clearer and more forceful, as you would expect, but there is less to choose from than for most of the Image discs. More care and effort could have been taken here.

Rawls’ performance is excellent. He is in fine voice and the material is well chosen, being mostly upbeat with some blues and some ballads. The band is good but knows its place and never takes attention away from Rawls. Overall, the performance is so enjoyable that you forget that the audio presentation is not as good as it could have been.

Features

As with many music DVDs, the extras are a bit sparse. You get a useful written biography of Rawls and a short documentary in which he talks about his life and music. This documentary is interesting but is not essential by any means.

Conclusion

I am a fan of Lou Rawls and have been disappointed by his output in the last 2 decades (possibly excluding his Blue Note album At Last from 1989). It has been generally soft poppy tripe and not worthy of his talents. This DVD goes some way to redressing the balance and is probably his best recorded work since At Last.

The music plays to Rawls strengths being mostly good natured R&B, with some blues like “Stormy Monday” and “Hoochie Coochie Man”. Rawls is in fine voice and seems to be having a great time as he sings and jokes with the audience. Highlights are the bouncy opener “Groovy People”, the soulful “Love is a Hurtin’ Thing” and the Sam Cooke classic “Bring It On Home To Me” (Rawls sang with Cooke on the original). The low point is “Wind Beneath My Wings” – enough said. Another high point is his rendition of “What A Wonderful World” where he does an excellent impression of the great Louis Armstrong – a fitting tribute to one of Rawls’ heroes.

Lou Rawls is a talented singer and an amiable performer. This DVD is both a timely retrospective of his work and a great introduction for anyone who might not be familiar with it. It isn’t a technically excellent disk but the quality of music and performance shine through and if you enjoy good soul/jazz/blues this comes recommended.