Jazz Articles about Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson: Dimensions: A Compendium of the Pablo Years

by Norman Weinstein
November 7, 2003

Oscar Peterson's recordings on the Pablo label span the years from the '50s to the '70s and have long needed this type of lavish anthology. Over the course of four discs, you get to hear five tunes by the classic trio matching the peerless pianist with guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown. But the best of that particular band – arguably Peterson's finest – resides largely on the Verve label, so the Pablo years find Peterson interacting with a ...

Ben Webster: Soulville

by John Ballon
October 27, 2003

I accidentally lucked into the music of Ben Webster while sifting through the “W" section of some dusty used record bin years ago. The cover looked cool, with its classic profile shot of an unsmiling, world-weary Webster featured beneath the boldly printed title, Soulville. I impulsively bought the disc, took it home, and a few days later got around to playing it. Whoa! Had I stumbled onto something BIG? From that record on, I no longer thought of jazz as ...

Ben Webster: Soulville

by David Rickert
May 11, 2003

A photograph on the inside of Soulville 's CD cover shows Webster with his head tilted back, eyelids drooping and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. It’s a great photo, simply because Webster approaches soloing in much the same way. A relaxed and patient improviser who first made his name with Ellington’s band playing one definitive solo after another, the tenor saxophonist really blossomed once he struck out as a solo artist where he wasn’t boxed in by the confines ...

Oscar Peterson: An Oscar Peterson Christmas

by Robert Gilbert
December 22, 2002

Like a delicious holiday turkey, An Oscar Peterson Christmas is nothing fancy, but easy to digest and something to look forward to every year. The legendary Canadian pianist works his way through fourteen Christmas standards with a quartet featuring Lorne Lofsky on guitar, Dave Young on bass and Jerry Fuller on drums. Guesting on a couple of tracks each are Dave Samuels on vibraphone and Jack Schantz on flugelhorn.

Arranger Rick Wilkins sweetens a few of the tracks with a ...

Oscar Peterson Trio: Tenderly

by AAJ Staff
October 20, 2002

Listening to pianist Oscar Peterson always triggers a profound sense of nostagia. The very first jazz recording I ever owned was a Peterson trio disc, long since lost to the winds. The memory sticks, though. Oscar Peterson has made a huge number of recordings in a variety of settings, from solo to orchestral, from piano to clavichord. His swinging style remains readily recognizable, owing obvious debts (as many critics have noted) to the crispy romps of Art Tatum and the ...

Oscar Peterson: Solo

by C. Michael Bailey
October 10, 2002

Canada's (and our) treasure...

It is gratifying when previously unreleased material from a consistently fine artist like Oscar Peterson reaches the digital impression of the compact disc. Impresario Norman Granz was fortunate to have the talent of Mr. Peterson on his Clef, Verve, and Pablo labels over the period of 1950 to 1986. Having appeared on hundreds of recordings might beg the question, "Does the world need one more Oscar Peterson?" The answer is a resounding "YES," considering that the ...

Oscar Peterson: Oscar's Ballads

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 2001

With Oscar's Ballads, we are reminded that, behind Oscar Peterson's blazing swing--with his furious pace that launched a thousand riffs, not to mention hundreds of imitators--Peterson's solo construction and compositional talent rely on logically appealing and personalized modulations. Underlying his signature technique, Peterson lays down a foundation of harmonic richness and internal chord movement that usually were overlooked as audiences were wowed by his technical mastery and percussive force. Oscar's Ballads is a compilation from a number of ...