With Jazz 101, Amazon.com's expert editors introduce music
fans to key performers, important stylistic movements, and
milestone recordings in the history of jazz. In this
mailing, Amazon.com Jazz editor Andrew Bartlett offers an
introduction to Oscar Peterson's "Night Train."
EARLY OSCAR
***********
To listeners, Peterson's influences were clear. He created a
combination of Nat "King" Cole's pianistic rhythms, Art
Tatum's liberal use of the entire keyboard, and additional
dynamics from Teddy Wilson and Errol Garner. But what came
from Peterson's hands was all his own, identifiable
immediately. He drew comparisons to Cole in particular,
though, for the creation of his trio with guitarist Herb
Ellis and bassist Ray Brown, a band that lasted through much
of the 1950s. They created a relaxed swing that helped shape
the sound and mood of "Night Train," one of the pianist's
greatest achievements.
"At Zardi's"
Oscar Peterson Trio with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown
Peterson on CD
When guitarist Ellis left Peterson's trio, the pianist could easily have pushed the quiet, swinging format further with a replacement. But Peterson, perhaps sensing a need for more concrete flooring under his piano and bass, enlisted drummer Ed Thigpen as the trio's third member to inaugurate the 1960s. It's the lineup of Thigpen, Brown, and Peterson that made "Night Train" so seemingly offhand in its swinging richness.
"Night Train"
Oscar Peterson
Peterson on CD
ON THE TRAIN
************
Although he'd earlier demonstrated an all-consuming ability
to play easily across the entire keyboard at lightning
speeds--much like Art Tatum--Peterson elected on "Night
Train" to show off his peerless expertise at midtempo (and
slower) blues-inflected tunes. He chose four tunes by Duke
Ellington, one by Ellington's son Mercer, one by Modern Jazz
Quartet vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and only one of his own
works, "Hymn to Freedom."
What Peterson accomplishes on "Night Train" is, among other things, a pair of awesome distillations. He takes the disparity between very fast and very slow piano playing and skims the best of each to create tunes that seem to travel at two speeds. He piles notes and harmonic layers without ever leaving behind the crucial melody and rhythms--largely blues-based on "Night Train." On the title track, an Ellington composition, Peterson makes his trio sound amazingly like a chugging big band. They tug like a locomotive (here and on "Band Call," also by Ellington), and they almost magically give the feeling that the trio is, in fact, a series of band sections riffing off each other.
They do the same on Ellington's "C-Jam Blues," and on Milt Jackson's famed "Bags Groove," Peterson draws the listener in with a time lag between his keyboard and Thigpen's drumming (a techinque also used to intensify the gospel feel of "Hymn to Freedom").
But for all the defining characteristics of "Night Train," all the signature elements, and the rain of creativity, it is at heart a profoundly swinging album--a testament to the emotive power of blues-based, rhythmically even, melodically rich jazz.
MORE PETERSON
*************
The inclusion of "Bags Groove" shows off Peterson's fondness
for Milt Jackson, and the pair joined in a quartet setting
to record "Very Tall" in 1961, an album that swings so
intensely you can hear Jackson and Peterson, exhausted or
exuberant, grunting their way through the tunes. So great
was the session that the Very Tall Band reunited in 1998 for
what would be one of Jackson's final recorded appearances.
"Very Tall"
Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson
Peterson on CD
"Live at the Blue Note"
Very Tall Band
Peterson on CD
Being as talented as Peterson leads, of course, to many memorable jazz events--with even the workaday sessions reaching great heights. So his work with Lester Young--which dates from 1952--on "With the Oscar Peterson Trio" brings out some of Young's best playing of the era. Peterson is playing with time signatures again, and Young loves it, slowing way down, playing starkly, then enriching the air with a tone redolent of his best 1930s-era playing.
"With the Oscar Peterson Trio"
Lester Young
Peterson on CD
Peterson distinguished himself differently on a series of albums with swing vibraphonist Lionel Hampton in the mid-1950s. Far more than the "Very Tall" session, these albums were no-holds-barred swing fests. Hopping, thrilled energy was the rule, and both Hampton and Peterson played like there was no tomorrow. Their complete collaborations are available on "The Complete Lionel Hampton Quartets and Quintets with Oscar Peterson on Verve."
"The Complete Lionel Hampton Quartets and Quintets with
Oscar Peterson on Verve"
Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
Peterson on CD
Of course, Peterson enthusiasts will readily claim several of his post-Verve, post-1960s albums as among the most significant. Peterson discovered in that era that he was a compelling solo performer, and much of his best music after the 1960s has been solo works. He's recorded prolifically, so finding the right album is daunting. If a later outing is attractive in concept, try:
"Skol"
Oscar Peterson with Stephane Grappelli
Peterson on CD
"Live at the Blue Note"
Oscar Peterson Trio
Peterson on CD
Oscar Peterson's stroke in 1993 threatened to rob jazz of one of its most able practitioners. But the irrepressible Peterson recovered and has since made several recordings--not the least of which is the reunion of the Very Tall Band.
