Oscar Peterson

[djstarr]

So I'm going to hear him next Tuesday (yeah!) and I don't have very much of his material.

If you were to recommend one or two CDs to listen to before then, what would you pick?

Thanks!

[Swifty]

The Ultimate album has some good variety, all tracks were picked by Ray Brown.

Night Train is another favorite.

[main_stem]

IN Respects to Nat, (Scary how much he sounds like Nat Cole)
A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra
Trio Plus 1, Clark Terry
Any of the Basie Oscar Peterson stuff
Hell anyhting period.

Note though,he did have a stroke several years ago and his left hand is not as powerful as it once was. He tends to play a little bit slower now-a-days from what friends have told me.

-Kevin

[mark0tz]

Jeez. I have a bunch of O.P.

My favorite two, I guess are:
- Oscar Peterson Trio Plus One Clark Terry, and
- Exclusively For My Friends (Gift from another friend that really got me into collecting jazz music, and still one of my favorites)

[Swifty]

By the way, I'm not sure if it's still the case, but the bassist I saw with OP in Toronto last year was Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, who is awesome in his own right.

You might recognize him from the Basie & Friends album.

[yedancer]

Night Train is another favorite.

Definitely Night Train.

[Yakov]

he played on the ella & louis albums.

[julius]

Pedersen is a monster, and so is his guitarist Ulf Wakenius. Wakenius plays guitar like Oscar plays piano ... it's an amazing match.

Basically the whole Quartet is amazing.

[Lawrence]

The Ultimate album has some good variety, all tracks were picked by Ray Brown.
Night Train is another favorite.

Those would have been my picks before Swifty beat me to it.

"Night Train" is a seminal Slow-Lindy CD that everyone should own. As I see it, "Night Train" also holds tremendous significance in the re-emergence and evolution of Lindy Hop beyond its swing era roots. I first considered it nice but COMPLETELY undanceable, but now love it for both listening and dancing.

You asked for 2 CDs, but here are a few more:

The four CDs he did with Basie in the 70s and 80s are all great. Satch & Josh; Satch & Josh, Again; The Timekeepers; and I can't remeber the other name offhand. I seem to recall another (that I might actually own), but can't remember, now.

"Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson" (1957) "Sweet Moonsong" has been mentioned before on this list.

"We Get Requests" (1964) (with D&E, one of the best slower dance songs, ever!)

"With Respect to Nat" (1965) Peterson does a dead-on impression of Cole's vocals; it takes several listenings to even BEGIN to tell the differences.

[Shorty Dave]

The four CDs he did with Basie in the 70s and 80s are all great. Satch & Josh; Satch & Josh, Again; The Timekeepers; and I can't remeber the other name offhand. I seem to recall another (that I might actually own), but can't remember, now.

Night Rider, I think, is the other.

[Shorty Dave]

Night Train holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first "modern jazz" cd I ever got, and to this day is still my favorite. I highly recommend it.

[Swifty]

Did you know there's a Night Train Vol. 2 floating around on vinyl? Mike picked it up a while ago. I think it's a compilation of tracks from other studio sessions. I'll tell him to post about it when he returns from SONH.

[djstarr]

thanks for all the recommendations! I'm going on a little road trip today so this will make for a very pleasant trip.

[Jake]

Did you know there's a Night Train Vol. 2 floating around on vinyl? Mike picked it up a while ago. I think it's a compilation of tracks from other studio sessions. I'll tell him to post about it when he returns from SONH.

Unfortunately, the Night Train vol. 2 LP was just a reissue of earlier Peterson Trio recordings, the only ones of which are not available on CD being "Li'l Darlin'" and "Little Right Foot" from The Oscar Peterson Trio Plays which it seems to me would be a nicer find for vinyl collectors.

side one
Wouldn't It Be Loverly 5:30
- from V/V6-8581 Oscar Peterson Plays "My Fair Lady" (reissued on CD)
Li'l Darlin' 4:17
- from V/V6-8591 The Oscar Peterson Trio Plays
Blues For Basie 3:30
- from V/V6-8092 Oscar Peterson Plays Count Basie (reissued)
Close Your Eyes 5:40
- from V/V6-8351 Jazz Soul Of Oscar Peterson (reissued)

side two
Night Train 4:50
- from V/V6-8538 Night Train (reissued)
Little Right Foot 4:53
- from V/V6-8591 The Oscar Peterson Trio Plays
Easy Does It 6:17
- from V/V6-8092 Oscar Peterson Plays Count Basie (reissued)
D & E 5:10
- from V/V6-8606 We Get Requests (reissued)

Interestingly, a record titled "Night Train Vol. 3" has passed through my hands (and onto my HD) courtesy of John L. from Detroit. It was printed in Germany and bears no release date (nor is it mentioned on AMG), but appears to be another attempt by MGM to cash in by rereleasing tracks:

"Summertime," 3:45, ...Plays The George Gershwin Songbook (reissued)
"Diga Diga Doo," 3:03, ...Plays The Jimmy McHugh Songbook
"I Can't Give You Anything But Love," 2:06, ...Plays The Jimmy McHugh Songbook (reissued on The Song Is You)
"Reprise," 3:55, West Side Story (reissued)
"Come Dance With Me," 2:22, A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra (reissued)
"Rockin' In Rhythm," 2:15, ...Plays The Duke Ellington Songbook (reissued)
"Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive," 2:03, ...Plays The Harold Arlen Songbook (reissued)
"I Love Paris," 2:10, ...Plays The Cole Porter Songbook (reissued)
"Pick Yourself Up." 2:10, ...Plays The Jerome Kern Songbook
"I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," 2:30, ...Plays Irving Berlin
"My Funny Valentine," 2:44, ...Plays Richard Rogers
"Carioca," 2:15, ...Plays the Vincent Youmans Songbook
"As Long As I Live," 2:26, ...Plays The Harold Arlen Songbook (reissued)
"That Old Black Magic," 3:00, ...Plays The Harold Arlen Songbook (reissued)

Of the tracks unavailable on CD, "Diga Diga Doo" is really nice for dancing, as are "I've Got My Love..." and "My Funny Valentine," with "Pick Yourself Up" clocking in around 360bpm. At least in the record shops around Pittsburgh, the Songbooks LPs are much easier to find.

My top two Oscar Peterson CDs are (right now) Oscar Peterson Plays The Cole Porter Songbook and his set with Ray Brown on JATP's Jazz At The Santa Monica Civic '72.

[yedancer]

"Diga Diga Doo," 3:03, ...Plays The Jimmy McHugh Songbook

Interesting. How fast is that one?