TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : ****Excellent ***Good **Fair *Poor : VIDEOCASSETTES
“The New York Musical Tribute to Turk Murphy With the Hot Antic Jazz Band and Others.” Present Past Productions. $26.95. The legendary San Francisco trombonist Turk Murphy, already gravely ill, was honored at a black-tie musical evening at a New York hotel last Jan. 10. Performing in addition to Murphy and his own band were the Jim Cullum Jazz Band from San Antonio, the Hot Antic Jazz Band from Nimes, France and Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a New York group that does expert re-creations, with updated improvising, of recordings by Jelly Roll Morton and other ‘20s masters. The lavish verbal tributes have been tightly edited, but the evening’s emotional power is felt in full. The music is as joyful as the occasion was implicitly mournful. Murphy does “Mandy Make Up Your Mind” and “My Heart,” still blowing authoritatively even if at less than full steam. He died on Memorial Day, and the cassette is a lovely recollection. Information: (213) 271-2151. ****
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