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Oscar Peterson: The Oscar Peterson Trio at Baker's Keyboard Lounge
by Mike Jurkovic
If any one player fills a soul to the brim with unbridled joy, Oscar Peterson--his whole 'tude, his smile, his swing--is that grand soul and our grand fortune. Put on any of Peterson's archival releases-- Around the World, Con Alma: The Oscar Petersen Trio--Live In Lugano, 1964, or City Lights: Live in Munich 1994 (Two Lions Records/Mack Avenue, 2025, 2022, 2023)--and it becomes spontaneously apparent that the man brought the JOY every day to every stage. It was his life ...
Continue ReadingOscar Peterson Trio: The Oscar Peterson Trio at Baker's Keyboard Lounge
by Pierre Giroux
There are live recordings that capture an engagement, and others that seem to revive an entirely vanished room. This newly unearthed Verve Records release from Detroit's Baker's Keyboard Lounge, recorded over five sets in August 1960, clearly falls into the latter category. More than just a historical curiosity, it reveals atmosphere, temperament, and mastery. The Oscar Peterson trio at full strength in a venue that knew how to listen, playing as if elegance and fire were not mutually exclusive virtues ...
Continue ReadingOscar Peterson 100 birthday celebration at Birdland
by Mark Edelman
Makoto Ozone, John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton Birdland Oscar Peterson 100th birthday New York, NY August 15, 2025 The “Maharajah of the Keyboard" as Duke Ellington dubbed Oscar Peterson--or, to his friends, simply O.P.--would have turned one hundred in August, reason enough to remember the consummate Canadian pianist at that hallowed house of jazz, Birdland in New York City. In the nimble hands of Peterson protege Makoto Ozone, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton, ...
Continue ReadingVerve's Bossa Nova U.S.A.
by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Paul Desmond: Samba with Some Barbecue Originally titled “Struttin' with Some Barbecue" in 1941, this Satchmo tune lost its Dixie beat and got a bossa groove in the hands of the infallible Don Sebesky. Brazilian drummer Airto Moreira, then a newcomer in the New York jazz scene, provides a fiery propulsion to Paul Desmond's lyrical approach and “dry martini" alto sound. Different from the sad results of pseudo-bossa albums by Gene Ammons, Sonny Rollins, and so many others, this is ...
Continue ReadingOscar Peterson: City Lights: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Munich, 1994
by Mike Jurkovic
The first big challenge presented by the latest grand release from the Oscar Peterson archives, City Lights: The Oscar Peterson Quartet--Live in Munich, 1994 is how not to spontaneously burst into dance, either with yourself or some total stranger who happens to be within five miles of earshot of the ecstatic opener, “There Will Never Be Another You." The second challenge is not to interrupt the listening experience of others with wild, joyful whoops, hollers, and well-intentioned hyperbole.
Continue ReadingNew Oscar Peterson And Charlie Parker Recordings And More
by Bob Osborne
Newly discovered recordings from Oscar Peterson and Charlie Parker kick off a show packed with new releases. We close the program with a track from a new box set celebrating the work of bassist Scott LaFaro. Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Oscar Peterson Quartet “Kelly's Blues" from City Lights The Oscar Peterson Quartet Live In Munich 1994 (Mack Avenue) 00:30 Charlie Parker “I Found A New Baby" from Bird in Kansas City (Verve) 09:14 Carn Davidson 9 “Wonderment (For ...
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