Seu Jorge

Now well into his campaign for world domination, Brazilian samba-funk torchbearer Seu Jorge made his requisite journey to the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival, captured here in somewhat lacking form as part of Eagle Vision’s Live In Montreux DVD series. The set kicks of with Jorge engaging the crowd with a few surprising French phrases before kicking into a raucous statement about his country’s plastic surgery obsession on "Mania de Peitão.” The singer’s decision to run three solo slow numbers together brings the show to a bit of a standstill through the middle section of the already short ten-song set, though things soon pick up again when the band returns to get the rather stiff audience moving. There are a lot of good images of the band at work constantly switching back and forth between percussive instruments and playing around with one another through facial expressions and playful challenges. That said, the show itself provides very little drama and is a little too tidy to convey the energy and essence of what Seu Jorge is capable of.