Regular Price $14.99

Starring: Al Kooper, 
Directed By:
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Release Date: 2006-02-28
Studio: Standing Room Only
Format: Color,  DVD-Video,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Al Kooper & the Rekooperators

Description
The Rekooperators are the creme de la creme of New York City’s backup musicians. Led by Jimmy Vivino, guitarist & arranger on the Conan O’Brien Show, named after Al Kooper, keyboardist & mandolinist for such greats as George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan & Jimi Hendrix, controlled at the bottom by Mike Merritt, bassist on The Conan O’Brien Show, and kept in time by the amazing Anton Fig, drummer for many years on the David Letterman Show. This is a band they formed in 1992, to jam and blow off steam from the seriousness of their everyday lives. And so they do, on this luckily captured PBS broadcast. This is their first DVD and hopefully not their last. They tear up versions of blues classics such as "Birds Nest On The Ground", "Glamour Girl," "(How Come) My Bulldog Won’t Bark," introduce you to originals like "Goin’ To Heaven In A Pontiac"and "Comin’ Back In A Cadillac," and top it off with Al Kooper chestnuts like "I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know" and "Season Of The Witch." Whenever you need a burning musical fix, just slip this disc in your DVD player and you’re guaranteed a no holds barred wild musical journey that will leave you out of breath and completely satisfied.

Customer Reviews for Al Kooper & the Rekooperators

great playing but
This is a great session featuring Jimmy Vivino on guitar and vocal but I bought it expecting more from Kooper. In this DVD he's being the gracious host featuring the talents of his sidemen while he truly is being the sideman.Al Kooper & the Rekooperators

Great to have an Al Kooper DVD, but...
I've owned this DVD for over a year now, and it's great to finally have a video performance of Al Kooper. I watch it fairly often and really enjoy it. But if you are considering this purchase, there are a couple of things you should be aware of.

First, it's fairly short, which is OK, but considering that many of the songs are rather long, means there isn't a whole lot of material. I don't know if the actual concert ran longer and was cut, but if that's the case, I wish that it was included in its entirety. Also, there are cutaways from the actual performance to band interviews. I would rather have the performances uninterrupted and the interviews available as a separate menu item...but they didn't ask me.

Also, the sound is OK, but it's just stereo and needs a lot of power from your amp to get a decent listening level. I wish it was in DTS surround, which would give a lot more punch and presence.

Finally, it is really a band DVD, not an Al Kooper DVD. Jimmy Vivano takes a lot of vocals and guitar leads. I'm not complaining; Vivano does well, but, combined with the brevity of the DVD, it does mean there's not many Kooper songs.

If your a Kooper fan, you obviously have to have this in your collection. I'm just trying to prepare you for what you'll actually experience.Al Kooper & the Rekooperators

Pleas, Sir, I want some more
The show was done for a Public Television station, and on a low budget.

It runs only about an hour. The director imtersperses interviews with the band among the performances; if it were up to me, the concert would run straight through, with the interviews available as supplementary material. (To me, the Concert for George DVD is the model of how this can be done).

That said, the music is a lot of fun, and the price is right.Al Kooper & the Rekooperators

How can Studio musicians be labeled as Sterile?
What kills me the most are reviews in which some people become critics of an artist piece of work..Amazingly it always seems how many crique without being musicians themselves. Some are ok? But whom are we to Judge others before we "know" what we're talking about, OR you're a Better musician? The comment that made me post was that:

Rumour has it...Studio Musicians are Sterile on Kooper's back up? You're Looking, Listening to The Best of their genre. One doesn't become a studio player easily...Takes years, and years of being "Open" to New Ideas and Sounds...Someone needs to take a poll of ALL the Studio musicians whom are Sterile? Id start with their wives and girlfriends first.Al Kooper & the Rekooperators

Al Kooper Plays His Stuff With Studio Musicians
Well I met Al Kooper in Central Park at the end of the Blues Project days. This DVD is very interesting. There is very little material released on this great artist. He is featured a bit in Dylan's No Direction Home and has an awful version of "Wake Me Shake Me" on the Monterey Outtakes set. But this is different, a jam with studio musicians-who can be-as mentioned in previous reviews- a bit sterile. But in this instance it seems to work. The song selection is good and they go through Blues, Rock and Soul in this one hour set. Vocals are shared by Jimmy Vivino who has a typical East Coast delivery and Al who mostly does his own tunes in his laid back style (with Ray Bans on!)

However, this is an interesting DVD. The version of Glamour Girl (T-Bone Walker)is great a highlight of the show. Jimmy Vivino (who has appeared also in an interesting Blues instructional DVD with Hubert Sumlin) does a very credible job on his Les Paul and Al's solos are great. Al's laid back vocals, as he always does, are interesting as he is not a great singer-but he gets his message across. The highlight of this DVD has to be "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"--it's worth the price of the whole DVD- probably Al's best song ever and the medley with "Green Onions" and "Whiter Shade of Pale" just adds to it.

I bought this DVD in Australia about six months ago and cannot stop playing it. It has tunes from his whole career except the Blues Project days--which I really loved. I wish he'd done "I Can't Keep From Crying". I would have loved to see him play with Danny Kalb, once a rising star guitarist who was eclipsed by Mike Bloomfield in the late sixties, and of course Bloomfield went on to play on the "Super Session" album, oh well. The Project bassist Larry Kohlberg has passed away too.

I think this set is an interesting addition to one's DVD library. Those of us that enjoyed the first "Blood Sweat And Tears" LP, "Projections" and "Super Session" will not be disappointed. It's a Jam like all of Al's best work.

Al Kooper & the Rekooperators