EXCLUSIVELY FOR MY FRIENDS - VOL 5 / Mellow Mood

Description

In the fifth chapter of the series, titled “Mellow Mood,” Oscar Peterson reunites with his trio with Sam Jones (bass) and Bob Durham (drums) after Vol. 4, which was performed solo. It is an album on which the Canadian celebrates the giants of American jazz in a few pieces. He begins with Duke Ellington’s “In A Mellotone,” which he interprets in various ways and with exuberant physicality. He transforms Horace Silver’s composition “Nica’s Dream,” moving from a lyrical composition to an improvised bubbling, and he plays Gershwin’s “Summertime” in a version totally free of melancholy melody and, in his own words, “bold.” With “On Green Dolphin Street,” he revisits a theme from the film of the same name, deploying his dancing keyboard movements over Jones’s drone, who also delivers a magnificent solo toward the end. With the final pieces, he covers a broad span of time: “Sometimes I’m Happy” takes us back to the innocence of the 1920s, while “Who Can I Turn To” comes from the 1960s. Peterson had already recorded it for his solo album, and here it is developed in a trio structure after an astonishing tempo change. In the final volume of the “Exclusively For My Friends” series, Oscar Peterson and his colleagues Sam Jones and Bob Durham once again delivered very different highlights. The exuberant and avant-garde title of the album cannot deny its gospel roots; it contrasts with the simple but profound ballad “Emily.” With Jobim’s composition “Quiet Nights” (originally “Corcovado”), the trio demonstrates the sensitivity it is capable of in adapting Bossa Nova. This otherwise dreamy number undergoes an astonishing metamorphosis with a lightness that quickly oscillates. By choosing “Sax No End,” Peterson pays tribute to European jazz: the composition was written by Belgian big band leader Francy Boland and is literally set ablaze by Peterson’s driving and very muscular playing. For the finale, Benny Carter’s “When Lights Are Low”: the trio carefully and confidently performs this pensive composition for ten minutes, with Sam Jones once again playing a special role with his delicate accompanying figures.