"BURSTING OUT" |
 |
Oscar Peterson plays piano on all tracks, accompanied by:
Ray Brown (bass) and Ed Thigpen (drums)
with Ernie Wilkins's orchestra (collective personnel):
Nat Adderley (cornet) Clark
Terry (t,flh)
Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Nottingham, Ernie Royal, Snooky Young (trumpet)
Jimmy Cleveland, Slide Hampton, Melba Liston ,Paul Faulise,Britt
Woodman (tbones)
Ray Alonge, James Buffington, Willie Ruff, Moms Secon, Julius
Watkins (French horns)
Don Butterfield (tuba)
Cannonball Adderley ( who, for contractual raison,was
identified on the original release as Jud Brotherly)
Norris Turney (as); James Moody, Jerome Richardson (ts,
pcl); Ceorge Dorsey, Seldon Powell (bs);
Ernie Wilkins (arr, cond).
Tracks 4, 5, 6, and 9 recorded probably June 14,1962 in New York
City . Tracks I and 2 recorded possibly June 15,1962 in
New York City
Tracks 3, 7, and 8 recorded June 24,1962 in New York City
Side One
1. Blues for Big Scotia (Oscar Emanuel Peterson)
2. West Coast Blues (John Leslie "Wes"
Montgomery)
3. Here's That Rainy Day (Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny Burke
aka Chester Babcock)
4. I Love You (Cole Albert Porter)
5. Daahoud (Clifford Brown)
Side Two
1. Tricrotism (oka "TraCtitism") (Oscar
Pettiford)
2. I'm Old Fashioned (Jerome David Kern-John Herndon
"Johnny" Mercer)
3. Young and Foolish (Albert Hague-Arnold B. Horwitt)
4. Manteca (Luciano Pozo y Gonzales aka "Chano
Pozo"-John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie-Walter Gilbert
"Gil" Fuller)
A couple of years have passed since the release of a brilliantly performed and enthusiastically received album entitled " Swinging brass with Oscar Peterson" (MG 6119). Several critics pointed out at that time that although the Peterson Trio was eminently capable of swinging effectively on its own, the occasional use of a varied setting, such as the orchestral group assembled for that date by Russ Garcia, provided a stimulating change of pace.
The Oscar Peterson trio Bursting out with the All Star Big-Band (witch sounds like an attempt to capture a Grammy award for the longest album name of the year ) is not merely tall in the title: It is very large in orchestral range and in musical accomplishment. For immediate reference it might be well to include the full personnel of the extraordinary ensemble that surrounds Oscar Peterson and his auxiliary rhythmic task force (Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen ) on this sides:
This is not only the largest , but certainly the most illustrious constellation that has ever complemented the Oscar Peterson Trio. Not the least significant aspect of this instrumentation is the fact that the writing was assigned to the seasoned hands of Ernie Wilkins. Ernie , a writer whose experience has broadened considerably since his days as a saxophonist and arranger in the Count Basie Band , has developed into a resourceful and thoroughly skilled orchestrator whose work in tonal textures as it is rich in ideas
The writing is so designed that the instrumentation enhances Oscar without ever engulfing him . The pattern of tonal contrasts is an effective means of achieving new aspects of these compositions , as well as an engagingly different perspective of the focal figure.
The opening track, Blues For Big Scotia , provides a striking demonstration of this point, for although another version was included in the previous Peterson Band album , the treatment here is sufficiently different , with its fuller instrumentation and especially its compelling tuba undercurrent, to justify fully the rerecording of the same thematic material. For those who don't posses the previous version an explanation of the title will be repeated : it refers to Ray Brown's affectionate nickname for Lil Peterson, Oscar's Nova Scotia-born wife.
West Coast Blues is a Wes Montgomery composition that has began to establish itself as a jazz standard and one of the most "rootsy" of blues-infested waltzes. In sharp contrast Here's that Rainy Day , with its touch of Willie Ruff French horn at the outset, offers a Burke & Van Heussen song in which Oscar's mood is gentle and relaxed. I Love You , the Cole Porter standard, is an up-tempo with a long and engaging alto solo by Norris Turney. The side closes with the late Clifford Brown's Daahoud , long a favorite of Oscar's , intriguingly decorated in boppish ensembles to which the indomitable Peterson rhythm section lends its unique and unquenchable dynamism.
Tricotism, recently recorded by Ray Brown on his verve LP featuring Cannonball Adderley (comparison shoppers may study it on MG 8444) , is an Oscar Peterson composition. In this version a chorus of eight-bar exchanges by Peterson and Brown precedes the presentation of the theme.
I'm old Fashioned is a Jerome Kern & Johnny Mercer song of 1942. In this skillfully woven orchestration, clever use is made of the flutes.( How cautious we are about using that adjective! As if we were afraid it might be construed as indicating that cleverness substitutes artifices for art) Moody is on tenor for his solo passage.
In terms for orchestral color Young and Foolish is the most remarkable work in the album. after the rubato piano passage (noteworthy for the delicate sound Oscar achieves) , the second chorus has instrumental timbre that recalls strongly the early Claude Thornhill orchestra , thought fuller and richer because of the larger French Horn section and modern voicings.
The concluding Manteca , as older Dizzy Gillespie fans may recall, was originally scored by Gil Fuller for Dizzy's big band of the 1940s and was one of the first Latin inclined popular jazz hits. Heard in this vivid new arrangement, along with the contributions of Oscar and Ray, are touches of color by Jerome Richardson on piccolo and flute, Moody's tenor and Jud Brotherly's alto. The implacable beat of the most gifted bassist in jazz, walking alongside the most gifted pianist , is a joyous and rewarding sound in this track as it has been on so many others throughout their eleven eventful years together
It would be unjust to conclude these notes without a tribute to the sound quality achieved by engineer Ray Hall, the supervision of Jim Davis, during the five patiently, prepared sessions that led to the completion of this remarkable album. The sound of excitement in jazz , even when the artists involved have this quality at their command , is not an easy one to communicate; on these sides , thanks to a felicitous wedding of inspiration and technique, everything that was part of the creation of the nine performance has come out as brilliant as it went in
LEONARD FEATHER