I know several people on this list have purchased the Manhattan

Transfer 35th Anniversary DVD:  The Great American Songbook, but I

double-checked, and I don't think anyone has posted a review of it

yet.  I just viewed the copy I "received" from my son (translation:

bought for myself and let him wrap it up) for Christmas, and a

review is definitely in order.



But first things first:  If you have not ordered this DVD yet, RUN,

do not walk, to your computer and go to oddbanana.com and BUY THIS

DVD.  They are selling it for $5.81 plus $3.00 shipping, for a total

of $8.81!  At that price, everyone needs to have one.



The DVD was filmed on May 13 of this year at Henson Studios in Los

Angeles.  The studo room is homey, with oriental rugs on the floor

and draped over possible acoustic booby traps.  Yaron Gershovsky

sits at a Steinway piano with his back to the camera; he is the only

person we see in the studio except our heroes.  The guys are dressed

in spiffy suits (though Alan's jacket hangs on a mic stand), and Tim

has traded in his soul patch for a pencil-thin mustache that goes

well with his sporty hat.  Alan has some cool new glasses that make

him look like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park.  Janis is simple yet

stunning in a navy blue dress, and Cheryl goes the

shirt/tie/pants/red shoes route.  All look relaxed and happy.



The disc contains five live-in-the-studio performances with Yaron

accompanying on piano.  The group stands under a stylish microphone

to sing, but the disc also includes interviews where the four of

them relax on stools while they recall memories of how they came to

learn each song.  The video of the discussion is interleaved with

the video of the singing, but you can play just the performances

from the main menu of the DVD.



After beginning with "Route 66: (which Janis admits they sing for

practically every appearance), they tell the story of being invited

to the White House during the Reagan administration to perform on a

Gershwin program.  Since they didn't have any Gershwin in their

repertoire, they hurriedly commissioned Gene Puerling to write their

arrangement of "Embraceable You" (familiar to most of us, I think).

This is followed by a reminiscence of how they worked up "On the

Sunny Side of the Street" for A League of Their Own.  I remembered

that on the soundtrack that the orchestra played a chorus before the

group sang, and I guess it's because there's only one verse-- it is

short and sweet when straightforwardly rendered.  Next they return

to the story of the White House performance, recalling that Sarah

Vaughan, who sang before them, had sung a traditional arrangement

of "Someone to Watch Over Me."  Since they didn't know they were

duplicating titles, they were glad that Alan had chosen a doo-wop

approach to his arrangement, which is recorded for the first time

ever in this session.  This is a real treasure to add to the TMT

collection!



The DVD concludes with a rendering of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley

Square" in which Yaron accompanies, also playing the intro and outro

melodies instead of the group singing them.  While I prefer the

acapella version, the piano-accompanied version is a nice add as

well.  Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned yet that Alan tells

the story of the first time they sang in the Philippines and saw

what must have been Moy's group singing "Nightingale" on TV.



A few years ago, The Manhattan Transfer perfromed at the Bartlett

Performing Arts Center near Memphis (I remember Pete Motley came up

from Fort Worth!), and it was like having the group perform in your

living room.  With this DVD, I am overjoyed that I can welcome them

back into my living room any time I want to (or need to).





Keith

Hello Keith,



Happy Holidays to you. Many thanks for your very informative email. I have

been putting off my Amazon.com purchase for many months now. Upon reading

your oddbanana.com referal, off I went and now I ordered the DVD! Thank you

for your recommendation.



Happy New Year too!



Moy





On 12/28/08 7:31 AM, "Keith Parsons" <khp38120@...> wrote:



>

>

>

> I know several people on this list have purchased the Manhattan

> Transfer 35th Anniversary DVD:  The Great American Songbook, but I

> double-checked, and I don't think anyone has posted a review of it

> yet.  I just viewed the copy I "received" from my son (translation:

> bought for myself and let him wrap it up) for Christmas, and a

> review is definitely in order.

>

> But first things first:  If you have not ordered this DVD yet, RUN,

> do not walk, to your computer and go to oddbanana.com and BUY THIS

> DVD.  They are selling it for $5.81 plus $3.00 shipping, for a total

> of $8.81!  At that price, everyone needs to have one.

>

> The DVD was filmed on May 13 of this year at Henson Studios in Los

> Angeles.  The studo room is homey, with oriental rugs on the floor

> and draped over possible acoustic booby traps.  Yaron Gershovsky

> sits at a Steinway piano with his back to the camera; he is the only

> person we see in the studio except our heroes.  The guys are dressed

> in spiffy suits (though Alan's jacket hangs on a mic stand), and Tim

> has traded in his soul patch for a pencil-thin mustache that goes

> well with his sporty hat.  Alan has some cool new glasses that make

> him look like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park.  Janis is simple yet

> stunning in a navy blue dress, and Cheryl goes the

> shirt/tie/pants/red shoes route.  All look relaxed and happy.

>

> The disc contains five live-in-the-studio performances with Yaron

> accompanying on piano.  The group stands under a stylish microphone

> to sing, but the disc also includes interviews where the four of

> them relax on stools while they recall memories of how they came to

> learn each song.  The video of the discussion is interleaved with

> the video of the singing, but you can play just the performances

> from the main menu of the DVD.

>

> After beginning with "Route 66: (which Janis admits they sing for

> practically every appearance), they tell the story of being invited

> to the White House during the Reagan administration to perform on a

> Gershwin program.  Since they didn't have any Gershwin in their

> repertoire, they hurriedly commissioned Gene Puerling to write their

> arrangement of "Embraceable You" (familiar to most of us, I think).

> This is followed by a reminiscence of how they worked up "On the

> Sunny Side of the Street" for A League of Their Own.  I remembered

> that on the soundtrack that the orchestra played a chorus before the

> group sang, and I guess it's because there's only one verse-- it is

> short and sweet when straightforwardly rendered.  Next they return

> to the story of the White House performance, recalling that Sarah

> Vaughan, who sang before them, had sung a traditional arrangement

> of "Someone to Watch Over Me."  Since they didn't know they were

> duplicating titles, they were glad that Alan had chosen a doo-wop

> approach to his arrangement, which is recorded for the first time

> ever in this session.  This is a real treasure to add to the TMT

> collection!

>

> The DVD concludes with a rendering of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley

> Square" in which Yaron accompanies, also playing the intro and outro

> melodies instead of the group singing them.  While I prefer the

> acapella version, the piano-accompanied version is a nice add as

> well.  Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned yet that Alan tells

> the story of the first time they sang in the Philippines and saw

> what must have been Moy's group singing "Nightingale" on TV.

>

> A few years ago, The Manhattan Transfer perfromed at the Bartlett

> Performing Arts Center near Memphis (I remember Pete Motley came up

> from Fort Worth!), and it was like having the group perform in your

> living room.  With this DVD, I am overjoyed that I can welcome them

> back into my living room any time I want to (or need to).

>

> Keith

>

>

>







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I bought mine here for $7.52 total:

http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=53084378

As far as I know, nobody beats DeepDiscount on DVD prices (their

shipping is slow but free). If you know anybody who does, please let

me know.



--- In mantran@yahoogroups.com, "Keith Parsons" <khp38120@...> wrote:

>

> I know several people on this list have purchased the Manhattan

> Transfer 35th Anniversary DVD:  The Great American Songbook, but I

> double-checked, and I don't think anyone has posted a review of it

> yet.  I just viewed the copy I "received" from my son (translation:

> bought for myself and let him wrap it up) for Christmas, and a

> review is definitely in order.

>

> But first things first:  If you have not ordered this DVD yet, RUN,

> do not walk, to your computer and go to oddbanana.com and BUY THIS

> DVD.  They are selling it for $5.81 plus $3.00 shipping, for a total

> of $8.81!  At that price, everyone needs to have one.

>

> The DVD was filmed on May 13 of this year at Henson Studios in Los

> Angeles.  The studo room is homey, with oriental rugs on the floor

> and draped over possible acoustic booby traps.  Yaron Gershovsky

> sits at a Steinway piano with his back to the camera; he is the only

> person we see in the studio except our heroes.  The guys are dressed

> in spiffy suits (though Alan's jacket hangs on a mic stand), and Tim

> has traded in his soul patch for a pencil-thin mustache that goes

> well with his sporty hat.  Alan has some cool new glasses that make

> him look like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park.  Janis is simple yet

> stunning in a navy blue dress, and Cheryl goes the

> shirt/tie/pants/red shoes route.  All look relaxed and happy.

>

> The disc contains five live-in-the-studio performances with Yaron

> accompanying on piano.  The group stands under a stylish microphone

> to sing, but the disc also includes interviews where the four of

> them relax on stools while they recall memories of how they came to

> learn each song.  The video of the discussion is interleaved with

> the video of the singing, but you can play just the performances

> from the main menu of the DVD.

>

> After beginning with "Route 66: (which Janis admits they sing for

> practically every appearance), they tell the story of being invited

> to the White House during the Reagan administration to perform on a

> Gershwin program.  Since they didn't have any Gershwin in their

> repertoire, they hurriedly commissioned Gene Puerling to write their

> arrangement of "Embraceable You" (familiar to most of us, I think).

> This is followed by a reminiscence of how they worked up "On the

> Sunny Side of the Street" for A League of Their Own.  I remembered

> that on the soundtrack that the orchestra played a chorus before the

> group sang, and I guess it's because there's only one verse-- it is

> short and sweet when straightforwardly rendered.  Next they return

> to the story of the White House performance, recalling that Sarah

> Vaughan, who sang before them, had sung a traditional arrangement

> of "Someone to Watch Over Me."  Since they didn't know they were

> duplicating titles, they were glad that Alan had chosen a doo-wop

> approach to his arrangement, which is recorded for the first time

> ever in this session.  This is a real treasure to add to the TMT

> collection!

>

> The DVD concludes with a rendering of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley

> Square" in which Yaron accompanies, also playing the intro and outro

> melodies instead of the group singing them.  While I prefer the

> acapella version, the piano-accompanied version is a nice add as

> well.  Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned yet that Alan tells

> the story of the first time they sang in the Philippines and saw

> what must have been Moy's group singing "Nightingale" on TV.

>

> A few years ago, The Manhattan Transfer perfromed at the Bartlett

> Performing Arts Center near Memphis (I remember Pete Motley came up

> from Fort Worth!), and it was like having the group perform in your

> living room.  With this DVD, I am overjoyed that I can welcome them

> back into my living room any time I want to (or need to).

>

>

> Keith

>

> From: Keith Parsons

>

> I know several people on this list have purchased the Manhattan

> Transfer 35th Anniversary DVD: The Great American Songbook, but

I

> double-checked, and I don't think anyone has posted a review of

it

> yet. I just viewed the copy I "received" from my son

(translation:

> bought for myself and let him wrap it up) for Christmas, and a

> review is definitely in order.



Keith,



No formal review from myself though I had noted I bought it and was

thrilled with their doo-wop version of Someone To Watch Over Me a couple

(or so) weeks ago. In general though, I pretty much agree with your

review. I had the following brief comment in that post:



". . . Also was it me or did they seem a bit more exuberant doing their

five

tunes for this DVD than say, Vibrate?"



Take care.

Jim





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Has anyone had trouble playing this DVD? I finally got a DVD player at home

yesterday, and it wonąt load.

Great review, canąt wait to see it!

Rachel





On 12/29/08 11:51 AM, "Springer,James C." <james.springer@...> wrote:



>

>

>

>> > From: Keith Parsons

>> >

>> > I know several people on this list have purchased the Manhattan

>> > Transfer 35th Anniversary DVD: The Great American Songbook, but

> I

>> > double-checked, and I don't think anyone has posted a review of

> it

>> > yet. I just viewed the copy I "received" from my son

> (translation:

>> > bought for myself and let him wrap it up) for Christmas, and a

>> > review is definitely in order.

>

> Keith,







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]