Oscar Peterson Trio – Last Call At The Blue Note (1990)

With Oscar Petersons passing almost 2 years ago we lost one of the two remaining Jazz Piano Giants whose careers went back to the late 1940's (the other is Dave Brubeck). Peterson was a
giant in every sense. 250lbs in weight and over 6ft tall but luckily for us a giant of Jazz Piano as well.
This recording is also part of a four disc set and contains at the moment the last available recordings before he had a stroke and lost most of the use of his left hand for the rest of his
career. So here he still in near peak form. Herb Ellis is on guitar, Ray Brown is on bass and Bobby Durham is on drums.
Evidence of Petersons great talent can found throughout the album. I'd give special mention to "Yours is my Heart alone", which was always a showstopper. "Wheatland" is a beautiful tune and one of his best compositions. Peterson wrote a lot more quality music than he is ever given credit for. "Blues Etude" is Oscars encore to end all encores. As always taken at a furious tempo, and incorporating elements of fast be-bop, blues, boogie-woogie, stride Piano and a lot more besides. This track makes you realise what a devastating blow it must have been when he lost the use of his left-hand. I imagine this is the kind of encore Oscar Peterson played in his younger days in case there were any pianists out there who thought they were going to follow him!

Personnel:

Oscar Peterson - Piano
Herb Ellis - Guitar
Ray Brown - Bass

Bobby Durham – Drums

Tracklist:

01. Jim
02. Yours Is My Heart Alone
03. Medley: It Never Entered My Mind / Body and Soul
04. Wheatland
05. Medley: Our Waltz / Adagio / Bach's Blues
06. March Past
07. Blues Etude

Executive Producer – Robert Woods
Recording Engineer - Jack Renner

Recorded Live At The Blue Note , NYC, March 18, 1990

Microphones:
Piano – B&K 4006
Guitar – B&K 4011
Bass – AKG C-60
Drums – B&K 4011 & Beyer M201
Console – Studer 962
Digital Recording Processor – DBX/CTI 18-Bit, 128 Times Oversampling A/D, Custom Engineered By Kenneth Harmann
Cables – Monster Cable M-1000, Series I Prolink Bandwidth Balanced
Digital Editing - Sony DAE 3000

Sound Quality: 9