[Dixielandjazz] Oscar Peterson - NY Times Review

[Stephen Barbone]

List mates:

Oscar Peterson is not what he was, BUT, he is still a joy to see/hear.
This trio swings and plays more music than most others these days..His
current performances are best described by the following quote from the
review:

"Mr. Peterson is resolutely old-school about the musician's relationship
to the audience. He is there to delight."

Don't you dare retire, Oscar.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


June 17, 2004 - NY Times

JAZZ REVIEW | OSCAR PETERSON

In Every Note, a Comment on Getting Old

By BEN RATLIFF

    Jazz accommodates a sense of honesty about the passing of time; it
has to, since great jazz performers don't retire. In the past an Oscar
Peterson concert left your neurons firing bright thoughts about
invincibility. Now you're up against the realities of aging.

On Tuesday night at Birdland, where Mr. Peterson performs through
Saturday, this 78-year-old pianist paused to talk about friends slipping
away. Some whom he mentioned, including John Lewis, have been dead for
several years, so this couldn't have been the first time he delivered
the monologue.

He apologized for being morbid, then played a piece he wrote after Lewis
died in 2001 called "Requiem": slow and sweet and focused, with chord
progressions that sounded like an early-1960's pop ballad.

But even at fast tempos, as when Mr. Peterson gamely sped through "Sweet
Georgia Brown," he made you think about aging's toll. Playing almost
entirely with his right hand — the left was disabled by a stroke 11
years ago — he worked hard to make his hands keep up with his mind. Even
if he didn't always drive home every bar with the authority he used to,
he was going to try. Seeing Oscar Peterson try hard after a life of
making virtuosity seem incredibly easy is a moving thing.

He still interrupts his own best improvisations to grab hold of a string
of bop-language licks. It can seem like self-protection, as if he is
unwilling to contemplate the void. The audience doesn't much like a void
either, and Mr. Peterson is resolutely old-school about the musician's
relationship to the audience. He is there to delight.

The old speed and flash were alluded to in other ways. Ulf Wakenius
delivered finger-busting guitar solos, and Mr. Peterson's bassist,
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, played hornlike solo lines, riding on the
swing of the drummer, Alvin Queen.

The amount of sound coming out of the piano is thinner than before, and
neither fast nor slow tempos best suit him. So on "Kelly's Blues," an
easygoing blues line written for his wife, he broke through with perfect
swing feeling, connecting his bop-harmony lines with some careful
contributions from the left hand. Moderation suits him now.