Clark Terry Quartet and the Duke Jordan Trio Live in Copenhagen 1985

While Paris is well known as a refuge for many expatriate American jazz musicians (most notably Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, and Dexter Gordon), Copenhagen also bolstered a healthy population of veteran American jazzmen from the 1960s up until the 2000s. Among the first were Kenny Drew and Ben Webster, who in the early '60s left their careers in America to settle in the Danish capital, a path on which many American jazz musicians would embark in later years, including Thad Jones and Ed Thigpen. This Storyville Films 2009 DVD release documents a 1985 concert featuring Duke Jordan (piano) and Jimmy Woode (bass), who in the 1980s were among the most notable American jazz musician expats residing in Copenhagen. The concert took place at Club Montmartre in Copenhagen on Easter Sunday, 7April, which also coincided with the birthday of the late Duke Ellington band alum Webster (Webster also served as the leader of the Montmartre house band after moving to Denmark in 1964). Woode and Jordan were joined by trumpet legend and former Ellington sideman Clark Terry.

The DVD features two of the three Montmartre sets performed on that day, the first of which spotlights a quartet comprising Terry, Jordan, Woode (another former Ellington sideman), and Svend E. Nørregaard on drums. Terry and friends honored the occasion by performing a set of four Ellington classics ("In A Mellotone," "Mood Indigo," "Just Squeeze Me," and "Satin Doll"), and a pair of standards associated with Billie Holiday ("God Bless the Child"), and Ella Fitzgerald ("Oh, Lady be Good"). The second half of the DVD features Jordan's trio set with Jesper Lundgaard on bass and Åge Tanggaard on drums. The trio also paid tribute to Webster with arrangements of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life," Ellington's "Solitude," supplemented by two Jordan originals ("Dances a ball" and "Jordu"), and the 1937 Allie Wrubel standard "Gone with the Wind." Missing from the DVD is what Terry announces during his set as the highlight of the evening, a showcase of seven tunes featuring Terry's longtime friend and Copenhagen resident Ernie Wilkins (Terry and Wilkins had been close friends since their childhood days in 1930s Kansas City). Storyville Records released the Wilkins portion of the concert on CD in 2003.

Sixty-five-year-old Terry is the unequivocal star of the show, alternating effortlessly between trumpet and flugelhorn (often during the same tune) while entertaining the crowd with his signature "mumbles" scat style and eloquent spoken introductions to the Ellington/Strayhorn standards. The trumpeter's seasoned professionalism most notably shines through at a point in the set ("Just Squeeze Me") where Woode's equipment failure throws the bassist into a confused panic. Terry, in classic form, promptly leads the band to an early finish before providing the crowd with some comic relief while the technical issue is resolved.

In contrast to the exuberance and humor of Terry's group, Jordan's trio proceeds quietly and casually, whisking through their set while appearing, at times, unrehearsed. Despite the set's aloof tempo, the veteran pianist (also in his mid 60s at the time of the taping) offers some inspired moments of intimate and lyrical playing, especially during the Ellington ballad medley ("Lush Life"/"Solitude"). The trio is most impressive in Jordan's hard bop anthem "Jordu," featuring a funky piano introduction that reminds audiences about Jordan's formidable role in shaping the sound of jazz piano during the 1950s.

Audiophiles and video enthusiasts will not be overly impressed with this digital transfer of the original VHS recording. Although the sound editors have noticeably reconciled the overall balance, EQ, and compression problems of the original live audio (there is also a 5.1 Dolby Digital option), the DVD unfortunately preserves some of the lines, skips, and jumps of the original VHS video. The bulky VHS video cameras of the 1980s used here—noticeably present throughout the concert—also contribute to create awkward camera angles and a few inconsistent shot series (although there are several revealing close-ups of Terry). While the DVD's production quality is less than stellar, the value of this footage lies in its quasi-documentary aesthetic. Consequently, and as the Naxos-distributed Storyville Films has done with earlier releases (Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Live in Copenhagen and Lennie Tristano: The Copenhagen Concert, 1965), the DVD provides an illuminating snapshot of the Copenhagen's historicizing jazz scene while documenting the late careers of two jazz legends.