Oscar Peterson Trio

Live In Finland 1963 • 1965 Oscar Peterson Trio

In 1963 and 1965, Oscar Peterson performed at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki. At the time, he led a trio considered one of the most tightly knit in the history of jazz, consisting of himself and two other outstanding jazz musicians: Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. For the 1965 concert, trumpeter Clark Terry was invited to join the legendary trio. The band’s enormous success was by no means a matter of chance. Peterson greatly admired the musicians he had recruited for their immense technical skill and creativity – yet he continued to spur them on to surpass themselves and strive to create a true osmosis in their interplay on stage. What emerged from this three-way symbiosis was pure magic. As Peterson often said: “It’s the group spirit that counts. I’m just the pianist.” He often described his philosophy with the words: “Jazz is a very democratic form of music. It arises from a shared experience.” Peterson was known as the “Maharaja of the Piano,” a nickname given to him by Duke Ellington. Every one of his musical phrases embodied the entire legacy of jazz – the passion of gospel and the power of swing. Yet behind the harmonic architecture, the sophisticated polyphony, and his pronounced penchant for form lay an immense musical culture. Peterson’s mastery of all musical genres, combined with the chemistry within the group, allowed him to be, above all, a musician of the moment. Unfortunately, the trio disbanded a few months after this performance. These two concerts reached the musical pinnacles of jazz and immortalized the zenith of what was and remains one of the world’s most legendary trios.

Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas, the musical treasure hunter behind The Lost Recordings, describes the path the label had to take to make this release possible as follows: “It is thanks to Ulf Drechsel's perseverance that we are finally able to communicate with the Finnish archives, Yle. It took nearly a year before we could listen to the first audio excerpts. Among previously unreleased recordings by John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis are these two extraordinary and entirely unreleased concerts by the Oscar Peterson Trio, with Clark Terry joining them on a few numbers! While the recording quality of these two concerts is exemplary, the piano microphone, which cut out intermittently during the 1963 concert, unfortunately rendered several tracks completely unusable. And as is often the case, the engineers mixed the various microphones on the fly throughout the concert. It therefore took considerable work to restore coherent audio levels and an ideal balance between the instruments. After several weeks of restoration, we are proud to present an absolutely irresistible album featuring extraordinary versions of "I Loves You Porgy" and a "You Look Good To Me" that rivals the one on their legendary album ‘We Get Requests!’”

“The Lost Recordings” is celebrated worldwide for preserving invaluable musical heritage and for the unsurpassed quality of its Phoenix Mastering™ restorations and is now releasing these legendary concerts – recorded on 1.4.1963  and 23.3.1965 at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, by the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle –  for the first time in absolute reference quality: The “Sapphire Edition” comes as a double LP (33 RPM), with 200-gram transparent Ultimate Record® vinyl. The hand-numbered edition is strictly limited to 500 copies, and the luxurious box set includes a 16-bit download card for the album. Sound wizard Kevin Gray himself is responsible for the lacquer cuts.

MUSICIANS

Oscar Peterson: piano   Ray Brown: bass   Ed Thigpen: drums   Clark Terry: flugelhorn & trumpet  We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this. This new edition proves just how fantastic mono recordings can sound when they have been remastered specifically for playback with modern stereo cartridges.