DVD Jazz, DVDjazz.com

このDVDは、L/A国際空港から東へ30マイル、ロサンゼルス近辺で最も元気のあるJazz Club "Steamers"での"Live Jazz"です。

Steamersは、X'masとThanks Giving Dayを除いて年中無休で営業、OwnerのTerence Loveは、お客様向けに、Web Site、E-mail等にて毎月の演奏スケジュールを作成・提供し、毎晩、店頭でお客様を迎え入れ、店のAudio Systemのメインテナンスも、出演するMusicianの紹介もご自分でやられる、頑張り屋です。（ホームページwww.steamerscafe.com を参照。）

このDVDの主役は、このSteamersに長年、毎月第１火曜日に出演しているRon Kobayashi（日系３世のPianist)のTrioです。そして、Guest Vocalistは、このTrioに隔月で参加しているDebbi Ebertです。

このDVDは、この４人の、2003年9月2日の演奏で、いつものように、午後8時から12時頃までの、３ステージを収録したものです｡そして、その前後に行なった、各Musicianのインタビュー、及び Steamersの内外、Fullerton市の情景等、そして更に、MusicianのBiographyも入れてあります。

全12演奏曲の内、7曲は、Autumn Leaves、Take The 'A' Trainほかの超有名Standard曲で、残りの５曲はこのTrioのオリジナル曲です。

今回は、（お客様にご了解を頂いて）満員の観客の楽しそうな表情も沢山収録しましたので、本場のJazz Clubの雰囲気を味わいながら、素晴らしいJazz演奏をご堪能いただけることと思います。

レビュー：　Swing Journal誌　2004年3月号　196頁をご覧ください。

ＤＶＤ裏面のLiner Notesより：
The DVD that you hold in your hands could easily have been subtitled “Steaming at Steamers,” because that’s precisely what is emitted from the tracks contained herein: smoke and fire, passion and emotion, all the thrills and chills that live jazz has to offer.
Fluid, inventive, percussive pianist Ron Kobayashi is no stranger to the recording studio. But for his most formidable powers to emerge, an attentive and enthusiastic audience is required, and that’s just what he found on this visit to Steamers － an invitingly cozy music oasis jam-packed with jazz aficionados. The result is a plate-filling evening of standards and original compositions that will have you clamoring for more long after the disc has stopped spinning.
The Ron Kobayashi Trio － Ron, bassist Baba Elefante, drummer Steve Dixon － is a well-oiled, much-traveled, cohesive little unit that (as with the very best of piano combos) essentially plays with one mind. Now you can hear it AND see it: The musicians are constantly communicating, spurring one another on and, most importantly, savoring every note. Look no further than Kobayashi’s own “Waltz For Bill,” an homage to Bill Evans (to whom he owes a considerable stylistic debt) for a stirring example of this. And don’t miss the rollicking funk of “Hang Time” or the hip-swinging, uptempo “I’ll Remember April.” The churning, forceful rendition of the much-played “Yesterdays” just might be worth the price of admission.
But wait, as those old TV commercials say, there’s more!
Added to this already rich mix, on four of the dozen numbers, are the vocal stylings of Debbi Ebert, a graduate of the voice-as-horn school of jazz singing who elegantly meshes with the trio. Ebert is a little bit Carmen McRae, a tad Sarah Vaughan and a dash of Ella Fitzgerald in her performance but, ultimately, she’s pure Debbi Ebert. Listen in particular to the tour-de-force “Autumn Leaves,” which she manages to morph into a scat-crazy romp, or the swinging, audience-participation do-up of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”
Maybe there’s no live music in your neighborhood; or perhaps you can’t get out to hear it. Until you can, “Live at Steamers” will suffice quite nicely, thank you. It’s so much more than just a document or artifact － with its interviews, street scenes and, most important, a close-up look at the musicians in action, it is very much an in-person experience.
In short, it was one of those “You should have been there!” nights.
And now you were.
Enjoy. (Stve Eddy, Orange County Register)