Artist:Oscar Peterson f/Clark Terry
Song:Mack the Knife
Album:Compact Jazz
After MGM bought Verve Records in 1960, Norman Granz put Creed Taylor in charge and left in 1964. It appears that Granz intended to retire. When he had previously agreed to sell Verve to Frank Sinatra's Reprise label, the deal broke down over Sinatra's insistence that Granz remain with Verve. Of course Granz returned in the 70s with Pablo Records. After Granz left Verve, Peterson left soon after and signed with Mercury Records. The 1964 album Oscar Peterson Trio + One features trumpeter Clark Terry. At the time, Terry would have been best known for his days in Duke Ellington's band and then Quincy Jones' band. I don't think he had worked with Peterson before. Jones was also musical director at Mercury so it would not surprise me if putting Peterson and Terry together was his idea. This album was recorded with Peterson's usual trio of Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. Terry played trumpet, flugelhorn and he does his mumble singing on a couple of songs. Of course Mack the Knife is a Kurt Weil standard made famous by Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald. It's not as common as a jazz instrumental. When Peterson and Terry recorded again on Pablo in 1975, Mack the Knife appeared on that album too. And the only other time Peterson recorded Mack the Knife was on the 1994 album Side by Side with classical violinist Itzhak Perlman. Peterson and Terry toured. Unfortunately this album is available only as a digital download. This was Peterson's only album for Mercury. But he recorded six albums for Mercury's jazz label Limelight. This comp CD covers those recordings. After Peterson left Limelight in 1966, he recorded for BASF's MPS label until Granz started Pablo in 1972. BASF was a German company best known as an audio tape manufacturer. Here's Oscar Peterson, Clark Terry, Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen performing Mack the Knife on a 1965 TV show in Finland. Terry is playing flugelhorn.
No comments:
Post a Comment