Oscar Peterson Trio – Jazz LIVE at the INTERNATIONALES JAZZFESTIVAL BERN (1986) Switzerland
Track List:
1 “Falling in love with love” by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart 2 Interview 3 “Love Ballade” by Oscar Peterson 4 Interview 5 “But beautiful” by Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen 6 “Soul Petite” by Oscar Peterson 7 “Carnival” by Oscar Peterson 8 “Satin doll” by Johnny Mercer, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington 9 “Take The “A” Train” by Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington 10 “Lush life” by Billy Strayhorn 11 “Caravan” by Irving Mills, Juan Tizolo, Duke Ellington
Personnel:
The Oscar Peterson Trio:
Oscar Peterson, piano; Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, acoustic double bass; Martin Drew, drums. + guest Milt Jackson, vibraphone.
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Oscar Peterson (Jazz Live)
Oscar Peterson is something more than a pianist synthesis between Art Tatum and Bud Powell, as many biographies classify him. It is evident that in addition to that, plus the influences of Hank Jones, George Shearing and James P. Johnson, give a pianist with enough personal traits to be considered a separate case.
His prodigious instrumental capacity and the extraordinary development of a particular concept of the trio, are enough arguments to verify the capacity and quality of a musician who has achieved with the 88 keys of the piano, an expressive force, a rhythmic power, and a sense of absolutely extraordinary blues.
His childhood was surrounded by music: father and his two older brothers played the piano and the organ, and he started playing the trumpet until tuberculosis advised him to give up wind instruments.
At fourteen, he won his first amateur piano contest and thereafter he studied the piano of Teddy Wilson, his first major influence. Art Tatum crossed his path and given his musical memory, he was able to retain the complexity of Tatum’s pieces and have the ability to reproduce it with absolute and remarkable fidelity.
In 1944, he joined the Johnny Holmes band, one of the most famous in Canada. In 1949, while Norman Granz was traveling in a taxi on his way to the Montreal airport, he overheard him and after contacting him, he signed him to a contract for his famous Jazz at the Philharmonic, an itinerant group that counted their Jazz Live performances all over the world.
Oscar Peterson made his JATP debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall in September 1949 and the audience was mesmerized by his astonishing speed on the piano. There were two very intense years from there, with which he had the opportunity to play in all formats and with all the great jazz musicians of the time.
In 1951, he formed his first trio with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Irving Ashby, soon replaced by Barney Kessel. The trio earned their own space within Norman Granz’s organization and a little later, to silence the criticism that Peterson would not be as fast on piano with the rhythmic support of drums instead of a guitar, he hired the drummer , Gene Gammage, later replaced by Ed Thigpen. That change caused the three-voice dialogue of the musicians to become a brilliant but linear monologue.
Oscar Peterson signed in 1964 for the MPS label and from the long stays that the pianist spent in the mansion of his new producer, Hans Georg Brunner-Shewer, some memorable sessions emerged that seemed infected with the exuberant serenity of the German Black Forest. , in whose environment they were recorded. The four volumes of the «Exclusively For My Friends» series were especially important, and in particular the album titled: «My Favorite Instrument».
In 1973, Peterson returned with Norman Granz with whom he again recorded numerous studio sessions, live concerts, participation in festivals, ‘All Stars’ meetings, in duets, trios, quartets, etc.
His abundant and excellent discography continues to this day, despite the fact that in 1993 he suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body and made him fear, if not for his life, then for his creative ability in his career, but his moral integrity and his physical strength, although logically with some decline, has brought him back to music for the enjoyment of his many followers.
Oscar Peterson passed away on December 23, 2007, at his residence in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada).