‘Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story’ Blu-Ray Review – A Fascinating Exploration Of A Cultural Movement

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, aka “Jazz Fest,” is the signature annual music and cultural event of the city and has been called America’s greatest festival. Celebrating the music, food, and arts and crafts of all of Louisiana since 1970, Jazz Fest is an essential showcase of the rich heritage of the region, and hundreds of thousands attend the event each year. Local music heroes are joined on 14 stages by some of the most important figures in entertainment, highlighting the connections between Louisiana culture and the world. JAZZ FEST: A NEW ORLEANS STORY weaves together live performances and interviews from the 50th anniversary of the iconic festival, featuring some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Jimmy Buffet, Earth, Wind & Fire, Irma Thomas and many others, along with a wealth of archival documentary footage from the past half century. This film not only captures the Festival in all of its beauty and glory, but also delves deep into the rich culture of The Big Easy.

For thoughts on Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/l1PXBES-HHw?t=3661]

Video Quality

Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story comes to Blu-Ray in its original aspect ratio from a terrific high definition master. The film is constructed using a mixture of new interviews with some fascinating archival footage and photos. All of this material is in the best shape that it can look given the source of each element. The encode for this one is top notch as the transfer is given plenty of room to breathe which ameliorates issues of compression artifacts, banding or other digital nuisances. 

The colors featured in this documentary are natural and cheerful as they provide a nice visual pop on screen throughout. Black levels are solid and allow for a robust amount of detail in shadows. New interview segments look crisp and clear with natural skin tones and detailed facial features. The archival footage seems to be derived from the best available source, with most of it looking at least decent to very good. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has put forth a strong effort with this one. 

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a great DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track which handles the music and the interviews with equal precision. Dialogue comes through clearly without being overwhelmed by any competing noises. The filmmakers do an admirable job of capturing their subjects, as most of them are filmed in stable environments. Even when the film ventures out into the world, the information comes through with swell clarity. The music is the core of the film, and it emanates with unwavering fidelity as it fills the room. Environmental sounds are plentiful with the large crowds which adds a lot of texture to the world. The audio presentation matches the strength of the video side of things. There are optional English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles included for those who desire them. 

Special Features

• Theatrical Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here. 

• Previews: There are trailers provided for Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism In America, 12 Mighty Orphans, Julia, The Truffle Hunters and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.

Final Thoughts

Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story is a vast and thorough overview of one of the true gems of the music festival landscape. The gathering is not notable only for its music, but also in the way in which it captures the rich cultural tapestry of the Big Easy. This documentary provides so many knockout musical performances, yet you also come to understand how we got to this place it occupies and the challenges that were faced to make it a reality. The variety in interview subjects makes this one especially accessible to a wide audience. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray with a top notch A/V presentation but not much in the way of special features. Music fans will love this. Highly Recommended 

Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story can be purchased on Blu-Ray directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.  

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.