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Some new Oscar Peterson

69.130.180.113

Posted on March 12, 2022 at 08:46:06
Mike K
Audiophile

Posts: 13966
Location: 97701
Joined: September 23, 1999
Quoted below is a review from March Stereophile of some new OP. Always
nice to have some new OP.

As an aside, there was a time I wasn't too fond of OP. Then my ears
go opened, don't remember when or why or how. I'm sure glad that
happened.


Oscar Peterson: A Time for Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet-Live in Helsinki, 1987
Peterson, piano; Joe Pass, guitar; Dave Young, bass; Martin Drew, drums
Mack Avenue MAC1151 (2 CDs, available as 3 LPs, download). 2021. Kelly Peterson, prod.; Heikki Hölttä, Pentti Männikkö, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****

Italy's best pianist, Stefano Bollani, says he was given an Oscar Peterson album when he was a teenager. He thought it was by Oscar and Peterson. When he found out it was one piano player, he knew he had to practice more.

Such stories of Peterson's superhuman chops abound. But if you haven't listened to your old Peterson albums in a while, this previously unreleased music will blow your mind all over again. His command of the keyboard was breathtaking and absolute. He embodied the entire history of jazz piano up to Cecil Taylor.

A Time for Love is a complete unedited concert in Helsinki. Peterson was 62 in 1987. If he was past his prime he was still a monster. Joe Pass was beyond a badass, approximately the Oscar Peterson of the guitar. The first CD is all Peterson originals. "Sushi" and "Cakewalk" are insanely, impossibly fast.

Reservations regarding Peterson's achievement are few. But he sometimes overindulged in virtuosity for its own sake, and his genius was interpretation, not composition. The second CD, all tunes by major composers, is best. Johnny Mandel's "A Time for Love" is a rarefied encounter between a great pianist and a great song. The lushness is immersive. Every sweeping flourish, every ringing melodic variant, serves the story. The six-part Ellington medley is epic.

On Joe Pass's solo feature, he arrays a whole night sky of glittering lights containing, like a constellation, one specific song. It is a rush when "When You Wish Upon a Star" is suddenly there.

The recorded sound is surprising. In a crowded concert hall, you can feel all those Finns breathing. Thomas Conrad



Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

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Did you see this yet?..., posted on March 12, 2022 at 16:15:38
musetap
Audiophile

Posts: 31815
Location: San Francisco
Joined: July 8, 2003
Contributor
  Since:
January 28, 2004





I haven't watched it yet, but plan to soon.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: Did you see this yet?..., posted on March 12, 2022 at 16:41:38
Mike K
Audiophile

Posts: 13966
Location: 97701
Joined: September 23, 1999
I have not seen it but am aware of it.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

RE: Did you see this yet?..., posted on March 12, 2022 at 17:28:36
GEO
Audiophile

Posts: 4749
Joined: April 7, 2000
Contributor
  Since:
September 9, 2000
Do you have any interest in seeing it?

 

Billy Joel??? nt, posted on March 13, 2022 at 17:36:58
dancingseamonkey
Audiophile

Posts: 3454
Location: New Orleans, birth place of jazz.
Joined: May 1, 2006
Contributor
  Since:
November 24, 2009
nt


"Trying is the first step towards failure."
Homer Simpson

 

RE: Some new Oscar Peterson, posted on March 14, 2022 at 22:25:27
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15486
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
I am excited about this CD / LP release as well.

 

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