Oscar Peterson: Night Train

Track

Happy-Go-Lucky Local (a.k.a. Night Train)

Artist

Oscar Peterson (piano)

CD

Night Train (Verve 314 521 440)

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Musicians:

Oscar Peterson (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums).

Composed by Duke Ellington (as “Happy-Go-Lucky Local”)

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Recorded: Los Angeles, December 16, 1962

Albumcoveroscarpeterson-nighttrain

Rating: 100/100 (learn more)

In a recent interview, Diana Krall said that Oscar Peterson’s Night Train was the album that made her want to be a jazz pianist and specifically made her want to play with Ray Brown. That Ms. Krall achieved those goals and much more only adds to this album’s merits. Peterson seemed to hit commercial and artistic peaks at the same time, and the early sixties was one of those periods. The trio got tighter and more musical as the pressure for larger album sales increased from Verve, and sometimes the results were of the best trio in jazz playing dumbed-down songs to attract more listeners. While the worst offender was We Get Requests, Night Train has received its share of critical brickbats. However, the performance of the tune “Night Train” may be evidence that Peterson could balance the two factions without compromising either side.

Since “Night Train” is a blues, it would have been simple enough to just blow through a few choruses and call it done. But Peterson devised a marvelous arrangement instead, one so subtle that it’s easily missed by casual listeners. After the opening theme choruses, Peterson slips into a 2-chorus solo. Then the theme returns, and we realize that all the while, the band has gotten softer and softer. This leads into Brown’s solo, which is unaccompanied to start, and then adds, in turn, Peterson and Thigpen. When Peterson comes in for another chorus of solo, everything starts to build again. Peterson plays a boogie figure in the bass to build the intensity, and then the trio plays a simple but effective shout chorus and then goes back to the theme with a strong crescendo to nearly the end, with a traditional Count Basie tag to close the track. By using the basic elements of crescendo and diminuendo, and arranged sections to set off the parts, Peterson turns what could have been a throwaway into a minor masterpiece.

Reviewer: Thomas Cunniffe

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