A Tribute to Oscar Peterson: Andrew Litton plays Oscar Peterson Improvisations

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Ballads predominate, providing ample scope for embellishment...this disc is less about jazz's sound of surprise than sheer delight in dazzlement. — BBC Music Magazine, May 2014, 3 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 31st Mar 2014
Catalogue No: BIS2034
Label: BIS
Length: 53 minutes

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Warren, H: Lulu's Back In Town

Work length2:14

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams: 'Round Midnight

Work length6:31

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$1.75

Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Green, Johnny: Body And Soul

Work length5:37

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Jones, T: A Child is Born

Work length3:09

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Rodgers, R: Jumbo: Little Girl Blue

Work length6:26

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Strayhorn: Take the A Train

Work length2:50

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Williams, S: Basin Street Blues

Work length4:41

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Gershwin: How Long Has This Been Going On

Work length6:05

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$1.30

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Carmichael, H: The Nearness Of You

Work length3:26

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Arlen: Over the Rainbow

Work length2:34

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Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Ellington, M: Things ain't what they used to be

Work length3:04

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$1.30

$1.75

Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

Juan Tizol: Perdido

Work length7:18

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

Andrew Litton
Recorded: November 2012
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Suffolk, England

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On his 16th birthday, receiving an LP of Oscar Peterson playing solo, Andrew Litton was ‘hooked’, to use his own term: ‘If I’ve ever experienced anything close to an epiphany, this was it!’ Having had opportunities to hear pianists such as Horowitz, Rubinstein, Richter and Gilels in recital, he was struck by Peterson’s playing: ’the amazing colours and voicing, the feathering of the sustain pedal (only Horowitz had such an astonishing pedal technique!), the achingly beautiful original harmonies…’ Collecting all of Peterson’s recordings and seeking out opportunities to hear him live and meet him in person, over the years Litton realized that the admiration he felt was shared by many of the classical musicians that he met during his ‘day job’ as a conductor. When he started to come across transcriptions of Peterson’s improvisations made by such musician friends, Litton began collecting and learning them himself. He started with one of his personal favourites, Richard Rodgers’ Little Girl Blue, using it as an encore when making appearances as a pianist – he even played it at a memorial service for his late mother. As he kept learning new improvisations, what Litton himself describes as ‘a dream’ took shape – to record his own performances of some of these transcriptions as a tribute to his hero. Litton’s selection includes twelve classic songs from recordings spanning four decades, from Thelonius Monk’s ‘Round Midnight and Billy Strayhorn’s Take the ‘A’ Train to Thad Jones’ A Child is Born, and his preparations for this very special recording have if anything deepened his admiration for Peterson: ‘He did things daily at the piano while spontaneously improvising that the rest of us spend a lifetime trying to achieve.’

Reviews

May 2014

Ballads predominate, providing ample scope for embellishment...this disc is less about jazz's sound of surprise than sheer delight in dazzlement.

A Tribute to Oscar Peterson

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