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Oscar Peterson Performance 1983 Live in Tokyo

Rick Beato has a youtube entitled greatest solo of all time. I went for it and Beato pulls out this Oscar Peterson trio performance at Ronni Scotts 1974. Oscar burns a hole in the floor with the longest, beautifully tuned grand I have ever seen. From both a technical  and musical standpoint, darn it if Beato isn't right! So, I pulled up the entire performance and watched it on the big system. The trio is Oscar, Neils Pederson (bass) and Joe Pass (guitar). Oscar is doubling as percussion. The entire performance is mind bending. I never realized how good Pederson and Pass were. I'd never heard them in a live performance. The Studio Records always seemed to me to be...contrived. Not forgetting about Oscar's playing, Pederson and Pass are both up there with the greats. Even if the music is not your cup of tea the technique of all three artists will amaze. There are more "I can't believe he just did that" moments in this video than I have ever seen and heard in one performance before. If you have not seen it please enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBJ1vU23X4A
mijostyn

Showing 4 responses by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
Good eyes mspot. As far as I know I have never been in the presence of a Bosendorfer but darn, look how looong than piano is! The bass must be incredible. That piano probably goes down to A0? Great link mspot. I marked it.
Like I mentioned above it looks like he liked it a lot. He screws around with the tempo all over the place adding a lot of emotion to his playing. You can't do that when you have a drummer controlling pace and Tempo.
Oscar has become the drums. The piano is a percussive instrument after all :-)
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
To all, yup the look on them was incredulous and they know what's going on! I have no idea what Peterson is doing from a technical standpoint other than he can go unbelievably fast. He has trained himself to think that fast. He is choosing every note at best in chord form. He plays as fast as any drummer, well maybe not Gavin Harrison, but he is also selecting the notes and the rhythm. A drummer only has to choose from perhap 10 items to hit ( Not Chad Wackerman or Terry Bozio) a piano player has 108 keys. Not sure, I thick Oscar's piano goes down another octave. 
There is a magic in some humans. They can excel at certain tasks far beyond a normal one, Maybe average would be better than normal. 
Don't you wish you could drive an F1 car like Max, or play the piano like Oscar maybe cycle like Lance(w/o the drugs)? It's enough to give us average persons a complex! Or is it that us average folks excel at something else :-)
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
@frogman , whoops, I did give the wrong link. Thanx for pointing that out. Not sure how I did that as I was watching the Ronnie Scott's performance. Computers. 
That's why that piano is so big, that extra 1/2 octave. Must add 5 feet the the piano!
Wouldn't you like to give Joe Pass a Les Paul and see what happens?

@tablejockey,  that atmosphere is pretty generic among jazz musicians. At Blakey and Bill Evans come to mind. They played in clubs. If you are going to practice you might as well get paid for it. I think the atmosphere adds to the recording and on a good system you can imagine being in the venue. 


mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
@tablejockey , The Good Life was taken from the same sessions as The Trio. I just ordered both of them and everything else recorded by that trio.

@bdp24, as a frustrated drummer myself, I hear you but Peterson is such a powerful piano payer He sets the pace and can drift for emotion and swing without interference from a drummer. So, without a drummer Oscar and the others are set free. From a technical perspective Oscar stands a good chance of being the best jazz pianist who ever lived but from a purely musical perspective I prefer Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock with honorable mentions to Chick Corea (RIP) and McCoy Tyner.
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