Song:I Concentrate On You
Album:The Song Books
One of the things Verve Records owner Norman Granz liked to do is have his artists record The Great American Songbook. Of course he did this famously with Ella Fitzgerald. But Oscar Peterson also recorded nine Great American Songbook albums in 1959. You can get all of them on this 5CD box set. At the time guitarist Herb Ellis had just left the Peterson trio. Peterson didn't think anyone could replace Ellis. So he brought in drummer Ed Thigpen along with his usual bassist Ray Brown. The first album with this trio was the 1958 album Sonny Stitt Sits In With The Oscar Peterson Trio. Peterson played on the Ella Fitzgerald Great American Songbook albums. So it's not surprising that Granz had Peterson do them too with the new trio. Peterson recorded similar albums in 1952. I Concentrate On You is from Oscar Peterson Plays The Cole Porter Songbook. The song was sung by Douglas MacPhail in the 1940 film Broadway Melody of 1940 and Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell danced to it. Astaire also recorded the song with Peterson and the Verve house band in the 50s. Singer Chris Connor recorded a great version of the song. Jazz musicians still record it today. This was the fifth in Peterson's Great American Songbook series. It's available on CD. But it's also available on this 5CD box set released in 2017. They are a must for Peterson fans. Here's Oscar Peterson performing I Concentrate On You and Someday My Prince Will Come in Prague, Czech Republic 1965. The Brown Thigpen trio ended in 1964. This clip has Sam Jones on bass and Bobby Durham on drums. That's how I know it's 1965.
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