Oscar Peterson Trio – At Baker’s Keyboard Lounge (Verve Vinyl LP)

Oscar Peterson Trio At Baker’s Keyboard Lounge on LP: Previously Unissued Live Performances from 1960. Features Bassist Ray Brown and Drummer Ed Thigpen.

When Oscar Peterson arrived for a two-week engagement at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit in early August 1960, the pianist’s year-old trio, featuring bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, was ascending to new artistic peaks. Intended at the time as a live album for Verve but never released, the music on At Baker’s Keyboard Lounge features remarkable, previously unissued performances, all taped on a single Friday night. No matter the tempo, rhythm, or complexity of the arrangement, the three players breathe as one on these recordings, phrasing as if controlled by a single heartbeat. These new-to-the-world recordings, made in Peterson’s prime at the longest continuously operating jazz club in the US, remind you that there will never be anyone else like Oscar Peterson.

Side A:

1. Politics and Poker
2. Dancing on the Ceiling
3. S’posin’
4. Django

Side B:

1. Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away)
2. Where Do I Go from Here?
3. Yesterdays
4. Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise
5. The Touch of Your Lips