Latest Release
- 19 SEPT 2024
- 75 Songs
- Ella and Louis · 1956
- Night Train · 1963
- Pastel Moods · 1952
- Ella and Louis · 1956
- Oscar Peterson Vol. 3 · 1952
- The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson · 1959
- Pastel Moods · 1952
- Jazz #1's (Bonus Track Version) · 1961
- Jazz 'Round Midnight · 1990
- Night Train · 1963
Essential Albums
- Oscar Peterson recorded Night Train in 1962 at the height of his pianistic powers. Backed by Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, the Montreal native tackles a number of tunes that were already venerable at the time. There’s plenty of Ellingtonia here: “Happy-Go-Lucky Local” (aka “Night Train”), “C-Jam Blues”, “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)” and “Band Call”. The trio really digs into “C-Jam Blues”, making it swing mightily, and they imbue a slow-tempo “I Got It Bad” with deep blues feeling. Peterson straddled the worlds of swing and bop, and one of the bonus cuts is a hard-driving, if incomplete, cover of Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time”. It’s truly exciting to hear the band cut loose and operate in high-energy mode on the short cut. Gospel gets a nod on a fine version of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia on My Mind” and the Peterson original, “Hymn to Freedom”. The latter song, one of the best things here, was the last track on the original 1960s LP release, where it had a great end-of-the-record sense of drama.
- 2013
Artist Playlists
- Explore the joyous, jaw-dropping catalogue of this beloved Canadian jazz legend.
Singles & EPs
Appears On
- Lionel Hampton & His Just Jazz All Stars
About Oscar Peterson
Born in 1925 in Montreal, Oscar Peterson ranks high among the most technically dazzling jazz pianists to emerge in the middle of the 20th century. From the beginning of his musical education, the virtuoso was fascinated with pyrotechnic piano playing: he studied with a disciple of the florid classical pianist and composer Franz Liszt and idolised the swift-fingered, stride-influenced player Art Tatum. Peterson recorded with small ensembles in Canada before breaking through in the U.S. in 1949 through Carnegie Hall’s Jazz at the Philharmonic series. He began recording and touring extensively, honing a commercially friendly style that blended traditional swing values with newer innovations. Peterson produced his most revered body of work with his ’50s trio featuring bassist Ray Brown and drummer Herb Ellis. In the ’60s and ’70s, he became celebrated for the showmanship of his solo performances, as well as his duo releases with jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald. The pianist’s career was slowed by a stroke in 1993, but he would perform and record up until his passing in 2007.
- HOMETOWN
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- BORN
- 1925年8月15日
- GENRE
- Jazz