Oscar et Malika

Un thriller judiciaire haletant…

Some guest soloists get overshadowed by Oscar Peterson's technical prowess, while others meet him halfway with fireworks of their own; trumpeter Clark Terry lands in the latter camp on this fine 1964 session. With drummer Ed Thigpen and bassist Ray Brown providing solid support, the two soloists come off as intimate friends over the course of the album's ten ballad and blues numbers. And while Peterson shows myriad moods, from Ellington's impressionism on slow cuts like "They Didn't Believe Me" to fleet, single-line madness on his own "Squeaky's Blues," Terry goes in for blues and the blowzy on originals like "Mumbles" and "Incoherent Blues"; the trumpeter even airs out some of his singularly rambling and wonderful scat singing in the process…

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (15 August 1925-23 December 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist, vocalist and composer. Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Peterson is said to be one of the most technically brilliant and melodically inventive jazz pianists of all time, with a career that lasted more than 65 years. Some of his musical associates have included Ray Brown, Ben Webster, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Ed Thigpen, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Louis Armstrong, Stéphane Grappelli, Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, Joe Pass, Count Basie, and Stan Getz.

This two-CD set combines two separate concerts by the Oscar Peterson Trio. The bulk of this Jazz Lips compilation is devoted to The Complete Tokyo Concert 1964, previously only available as a Pablo LP or CD in Japan. With Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen providing their usual sterling support, covering favorite standards, time-tested jazz compositions (many of which were still relatively new at the time) like "I Remember Clifford" and "Bags' Groove," plus Peterson's stirring, gospel-infused "Hymn to Freedom." Peterson does his share of showing off his tremendous chops, though he is remarkably restrained on the ballad features, except for the rollicking setting of "Tonight" (from the musical West Side Story) and a ridiculously fast "Yours Is My Heart Alone"…

Pianist Oscar Peterson has made a remarkable number of records through the years and his two songbook series for Verve (each recording features the songs of a different composer) were extensive, to say the least. During 1952-54 he cut ten albums (113 songs) and in 1959 he added nine more records (108 songs), in addition to his regular busy activities. Because these were essentially easy-listening sets with concise interpretations that always kept the melodies of the composers close by, they are not considered Peterson's greatest work but they are enjoyable in their own right. This particular two-CD set has some of the highlights from these marathon projects, most of which (the Gershwin songbooks excepted) had never been out on CD before. Peterson teams up with guitarist Barney Kessel and bassist Ray Brown on nine numbers from 1952, features Herb Ellis in Kessel's place on 13 other songs…

Oscar Alemán is one of the great unknown talents in jazz history. A brilliant guitarist who sounded very close to Django Reinhardt at times, Alemán was overshadowed in Europe by Reinhardt in the 1930s and spent much of the rest of his career in his native Argentina, remaining well known only in that country. This 1998 double CD from Dave Grisman's Acoustic Disc label has highlights from Alemán's career, including the eight selections he recorded during his three European sessions of 1938-1939, plus music from 1941-1947 and 1951-1954. Although the settings varied (including a sextet with violinist Svend Asmussen, a nonet, and two unaccompanied guitar solos), Alemán's basic swing style stayed the same, retaining its enthusiasm and creativity and remaining unaffected by bop. Sticking throughout to acoustic guitar and taking an occasional good-time vocal, Alemán is heard in peak form. He deserves to be much better known. A definitive two-fer from a major talent.

This two-CD set combines two separate concerts by the Oscar Peterson Trio. The bulk of this Jazz Lips compilation is devoted to The Complete Tokyo Concert 1964, previously only available as a Pablo LP or CD in Japan. With Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen providing their usual sterling support, covering favorite standards, time-tested jazz compositions (many of which were still relatively new at the time) like "I Remember Clifford" and "Bags' Groove," plus Peterson's stirring, gospel-infused "Hymn to Freedom." Peterson does his share of showing off his tremendous chops, though he is remarkably restrained on the ballad features, except for the rollicking setting of "Tonight" (from the musical West Side Story) and a ridiculously fast "Yours Is My Heart Alone"…

At the beginning of this set Oscar Peterson so overwhelms the normally gentle "Tristeza" that it almost becomes a parody. Fortunately, the remainder of the bossa nova-flavored LP is more tasteful. Even if Peterson is overly hyper in spots, he is able to bring out the beauty of such songs as George Gershwin's "Porgy," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Trieste," and "Watch What Happens," in addition to stomping through the straight-ahead "You Stepped out of a Dream."