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Recorded in MPS Records’ Villingen, Germany studio over four days in November 1969 (and released the next year), Walking the Line<\/i> features pianist Oscar Peterson joined by bassist Jiri Mraz<\/b> and drummer Ray Price<\/b>.<\/p>\nRecorded in MPS Records’ Villingen, Germany studio over four days in November 1969 (and released the next year), Walking the Line<\/i> features pianist Oscar Peterson joined by bassist Jiri Mraz<\/b> and drummer Ray Price<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Peterson is absolutely on fire from the very start, with a reading of Cole Porter<\/b>‘s \u201cI Love You.\u201d There’s a sense of subconscious connection among the three musicians as they charge through eight tunes, most taken from the pages of the Great American Songbook.<\/p>\n
The pianist shows that \u2013 had he wanted to \u2013 he could have been a soul-jazz giant by showcasing the record’s sole original composition, \u201cRock of Ages.\u201d Playing a mile-a-minute, Peterson never misses a beat on the ivories. It’s a five-and-a-half minute thrill ride that will leave the listener wanting more.<\/p>\n
But the trio shifts gears for \u201cOnce Upon a Summertime,\u201d wherein Mraz shares the spotlight with Peterson. The kinetic \u201cJust Friends\u201d is the briefest track on Walking the Line<\/i>, but in terms of notes played, it’s among the fullest. Price’s drums propel the tune along at a high rate of speed.<\/p>\n
The high energy performance continues on Side Two with \u201cTeach Me Tonight,\u201d a bluesy, swinging number. \u201cThe Windmills of Your Mind\u201d is built upon a challenging percussion foundation courtesy of Price. Peterson and Mraz glide effortlessly across that tricky foundation, turning in engaging performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI Didn’t Know What Time It Was\u201d finds Peterson simultaneously intricate and understated; his band mates even more so. The number would serve as a fine set closer. But instead that honor goes to a reading of Cole Porter’s \u201cAll of Me,\u201d delivered in style.<\/p>\n
The Oscar Peterson Trio recorded and released several albums in the very early 1970s; all are recommended. There have been many reissues of Walking the Line<\/i> since its original release, but the 2016 gatefold-sleeved vinyl reissue from MPS will be hard to beat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recorded in MPS Records’ Villingen, Germany studio over four days in November 1969 (and released the next year), Walking the Line features pianist Oscar Peterson joined by bassist Jiri Mraz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,64,65,73],"tags":[1632],"class_list":["post-12220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jazz","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-oscar-peterson","cat-42-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12220"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32104,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12220\/revisions\/32104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}