Jazz clubs come and go, but the Green Mill on Chicago's North Side has lasted for generations. Founded in 1907 (according to its website), the Green Mill has been having live jazz since the '20s -- and the club celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007, the year in which Delmark filmed Ari Brown's =Live at the Green Mill DVD. The main difference between the simultaneously released DVD and CD versions of Live at the Green Mill -- apart from the fact that the DVD allows you to both see and hear Brown's June 22-23, 2007, performances at the long-lasting club -- is the fact that the DVD offers, as a bonus track, an 11-minute performance of the hypnotic Waltz of the Prophets. Everything that is on the CD is also on the DVD, and that includes Richard's Tune (an appealing mixture of Art Blakey the Jazz Messengers and John Coltrane) and the Wayne Shorter-influenced Shorter's Vibes as well as the soulful ballad One for Skip (written in memory of a friend who committed suicide). Brown, who turned 63 in 2007, is in fine form on these Green Mill performances, playing the tenor sax primarily but providing some memorable soprano sax and flute solos as well -- and on the funky Two Gun V, Brown briefly plays the tenor and soprano saxes simultaneously à la Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Although Brown is quite capable of providing free jazz, this DVD doesn't get terribly avant-garde and sticks to a hard-swinging inside/outside approach (mostly inside) that often recalls Coltrane's early- to mid-'60s quartet but with a big-toned trumpeter, Pharez Whitted, appearing on four selections and the group's acoustic pianist, Kirk Brown, occasionally playing some electric keyboards. =Live at the Green Mill is an excellent DVD that has no problem capturing the excitement that Brown brought to that Chicago institution during its 100th year. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi

1		Richard's Tune [DVD]
2		One for Skip [DVD]
3		Waltz of the Prophets [DVD
4		Shorter's Vibes [DVD]
5		Two Gun V [DVD]
6		Kylie's Lullaby [DVD]
7		Evod [DVD]
8		Ari Brown Commentary [DVD]
9		Discography