Search - Oscar Peterson :: Oscar Peterson's Finest Hour

Like his models Art Tatum and Nat "King" Cole, Oscar Peterson has always played with a combination of elegance and energy, a compound of crisp articulation and compulsive momentum that has made him the most popular pianist in jazz. It shows up on the earliest of his Verve recordings, like the tributes to Erroll Garner and Fred Astaire from the early 1950s that begin this selection, and it continues throughout the CD to 1964. The same attention to detail and swing shows up in his choice of accompanists. The consummate bassist Ray Brown was a constant associate in this period, and the guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis each added a light touch and propulsive swing as a member of Peterson's early trios. While Peterson's fame will always rest on his titanic technique and big-band-like swing, he has also been one of the great accompanists in jazz. Those skills emerge in the collaborations here, such as the bluesy "Work Song" with vibraphonist Milt Jackson and "Mumbles," trumpeter Clark Terry's first recording of his comically garbled scat vocals. --Stuart Broomer