Oscar Peterson

I highly recommend his 1964 live recording "We Get Requests." It's outstanding.

I strongly recommend the "Live at the Blue Note" CDs, four of which were released seperately, then together as a boxed set. (Telarc Jazz) Recorded in May, 1990

They were recorded over four evenings at the end of a world tour with the longtime combo. (Peterson, Brown, Ellis, Durham) They are some of the finest, most musical, most imaginative, and best improvised performances I have ever heard. The sonics sometimes stink: glasses clinking, silverwear crashing, feedback when a mic was turned up too far, and stuff like that, but I have heard far worse (Basie at Birdland quickly comes to mind!). The talking of the guests isn't too bad, and there are times when you can tell there is some serious musical "dialogue" between the musicians and the audience. (In a good way.)

The intimacy of the club can really be felt, and the performances seem to have a "culmination of a career or playing together" quality about them.

Check them out if you can!

There's an Oscar Peterson performance on youtube called "The Theme" that is just amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBIyri8E8II&feature=related

Second the We Take Requests recommendation - outstanding album. You might also want to check out Peterson 6 at Montreux from 1975 on Pablo records. Superb recording job.

I second "Live at the Blue Note". And nothing stinks about hearing everything going on in the club, IMHO. This disc is VERY well recorded, one of my favs.