Oscar Peterson Live

This double album matches and mixes together four masterful musicians: pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Niels Pedersen and harmonica great Toots Thielemans. Together they perform O.P.'s "City Lights" and ten veteran standards with creativity, wit and solid swing. There are a few miraculous moments as one would expect from musicians of this caliber and the results are generally quite memorable.

Oscar Peterson, who suffered a stroke in 1993, has since made a partial comeback. Although his left hand is weakened, the pianist's right hand is as powerful as ever, and he is able to mostly cover up his deficiencies. This live album, Tribute, makes it clear that many jazz fans and musicians are delighted to have Peterson back on the scene again. He performs "Anything Goes" in a quartet with guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Lewis Nash; joins with fellow pianist Benny Green on a couple of quintet numbers, and welcomes such top players as vibraphonist Milt Jackson, singer/pianist Shirley Horn, tenor-saxophonist Stanley Turrentine (they had never played together before), Roy Hargrove (whose tender flugelhorn solo on "My Foolish Heart" is a highlight), the Manhattan Transfer, and flugelhornist Clark Terry…

The group that Oscar Peterson led between 1953-58 with guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown was one of the great piano trios of all time. It was never so much a matter of Peterson having two other musicians accompany him as it was that they could meet the pianist as near-equals and consistently inspire him. And unlike most trios, Peterson's had many arranged sections that constantly needed rehearsals and were often quite dazzling. This live double-CD from 1955 has previously unreleased (and unknown) performances of 31 songs (28 standards plus three of Peterson's originals) that were released for the first time in 1994. The pianist is often in typically miraculous form, Ellis (whether playing harmonies, offering short solos or getting his guitar to sound like a conga by tapping it percussively) proves to be a perfect partner, and Brown's subtle but sometimes telepathic contributions should not be overlooked either.

Pianist Oscar Peterson's final Pablo album (after a countless amount of appearances as both a leader and a sideman) features his quartet (which at the time included guitarist Joe Pass, bassist David Young and drummer Martin Drew) on the second of two CDs (along with Oscar Peterson Live) recorded during an engagement at Los Angeles's Westwood Playhouse in Nov. 1986. For the well-rounded set Peterson performs two of his originals, the blues "Soft Winds," a solo ballad medley and, as a climax, a burning version of "On the Trail."

Oscar Peterson - Live at the Blue Note… The Complete Recordings (2004) {4CD Set, Telarc CD-83617 rec 1990}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.27 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 666 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 114 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1990, 2014 Telarc | CD-83617
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Piano

This four-disc set collects the previously released CDs of Peterson's legendary three-night stand in 1990 at the renowned New York City club. Featuring longtime compatriots Herb Ellis and Ray Brown, the "trio" here is actually a quartet with drummer Bobby Durham, who'd played with Peterson in the late 1960s. The collection offers prime playing and stands as a sort of summation of Peterson's longstanding work with both Brown and Ellis. It was only a few years after these performances that the pianist suffered a stroke, from which he recovered, but which altered his style, costing him the stridency of his left hand. Among the first jazz recordings for what up until then had been a classical label, the sets were captured with the warmth and clarity for which Telarc has become known.

Despite stints with Orchestras and duos Peterson loved the trio format best. Touring the world in the early Sixties with Ray Brown on Double Bass and Ed Thigpen on Drums the band settled in Chicago for a week long Residency, subsequently recording a four LP set of their performances. The two recordings here are considered the cream of the crop consisting of compositions from right across the 20th century along with two of Peterson's own, masterful creations. Originally released on Verve Records in 1961.

Oscar Peterson’s trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen is widely regarded as Peterson’s “classic trio,” considered by fans as the most popular and in-demand of his long and storied career (featured on releases such as 1963’s Night Train and 1964’s We Get Requests). Recorded during their creative peak in 1964 (5 years into their collaboration), this previously unheard and unreleased live performance is destined to become a fan favorite from the Oscar Peterson vaults.

When the world-renowned Canadian pianist came to Villingen in 1961, there was a mood of intense excitement all round. Hans-Georg Brunner-Schwer (HGBS), former owner of the hifi dynasty SABA who died in 2004, had just set up the first version of his studio, equipped with the most advanced recording technology of the time, above the living-room in his villa. This was the bait used by the piano enthusiast to attract the famous pianist to the Black Forest. After a guest performance in Zurich, Peterson climbed into a limousine and embarked on a journey across the mountains. As soon as he arrived, along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, the international star was led to the Steinway grand in the living-room where a number of excited guests were eagerly waiting. "I listened to him play 'til four o'clock in the morning and lost the desire to ever hear the Beatles again!", says Matthias Brunner-Schwer, HGBS' son, still starry-eyed half a century later. The legendary pianist himself was equally delighted when he listened to the recording of the nocturnal living-room performance, never before having heard such a direct and pristine piano sound on tape.

For nearly 80 years, legacy has been the spinal cord of the glorious jazz tradition – but maybe never more so to its fans than during these challenging days of the pandemic. Unable to hear music in person, all of us have only been able to access new music through technology, resulting in many looking back upon what may have been missed. But when one can look back on something that is at the same time entirely new, that is a most special situation. And when that something new is coming from jazz immortal Oscar Peterson – even more so. And that is exactly what is in hand with A Time for Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Helsinki, 1987 from Two Lions/Mack Avenue Records.