Personnel:
Oscar Peterson (p), Herb Ellis (g), Ray Brown (b)
Reference: EJC55571
Bar code: 8436542011518
This CD contains the complete original album "On the Town", featuring the Oscar Peterson Trio in its 1958 guitar incarnation, with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. This set, performed live at the Town Tavern in Toronto, Canada, was the second classic album Peterson recorded in his native country after moving to the United States (following his celebrated 1956 performance at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Ontario).
"Pin back your lug-holes and marvel at their swinging techniques."
Trefor Williams -Just Jazz
"This reissue of Oscar Peterson's live Toronto recording in the Desert Island Discs series at Verve brings to light the question that jazz audiences were debating at the time. With Peterson's legerdemain rhythmic possibilities, his knotting, shimmering waves of notes, his insanely huge harmonic structures, and his dense clusters played in every solo, half the jazz populace wondered if all the swinging noodling might be a skillful medicine show while the other half considered it genius. No matter. One thing that everyone agreed on: No matter how busy his busy got -- and this album illustrates the rule since it's in a live setting -- Peterson always, always swung, particularly with Herb Ellis on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. The set opens with "Sweet Georgia Brown" and it's all bets off as to what Peterson will do next. He skitters from one melodic possibility to the next while Ellis creates a dynamic flow of fresh ideas to keep the music full and bright.
There are blues here, and they are gutbucket blues. They come from Ellis' guitar during this late '50s period more than at any other time in his life. But they come from Brown and Peterson too, and that's where the argument loses the wind in its sails: Everything this trio played was rooted in a blues so pervasive, so swinging, so hot, it could not be anything but truly fine jazz. Peterson's musical appetite matched his physical stature, and it is reflected in the selections here, which all seem to segue into one another: "Should I," "When the Lights Are Low," "Pennies From Heaven," "Moonlight in Vermont," and others through to "Love Is Here to Stay." All are reinvented and reinterpreted through the science of harmonic invention and rhythmic interval unique to this Oscar Peterson Trio. And while the plates and glasses rattle and tinkle, the jazz continues to burn, full of joy and light and just a hint of smoke. In 1958 this was a night to remember; in the 21st Century it's a disc to memorize in the depths of the heart."
Thom Jurek -All Music Guide
