You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - The Trio That Defined Swing

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

Peter and Adam check out Night Train by Oscar Peterson. This legendary trio shaped musicians for years to come. How did this album effect you?Unlock your FREE Open Studio trial to become a better player today.OP LIVE at DenmarkCheck out Night TrainLooking to drop a question? Want to listen to the audio pod? Look no furtherhttps://youllhearit.com/Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open Studio🎹 Head over to our YouTube channel for a better look 👀.Follow us on Instagram

Hey, Peter. Yep. What's that? Are you kidding me? Are you that young or are you that old? Which is it? Can you see what happens and you press that button? What the?

Hey, Madam Mattis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear a podcast. Music, Explore. Explored. Brought you today by Open Studio. Go to Open. Don't do it.

Go to Open Studiojazz.com for, oh, your jazz lesson needs. Peter. As quickly as it started, it stopped. We got a good one today. We got a good one. We're doing another of our favorite albums. It is Oscar Peterson's 1963 masterpiece Night Train. This should be, and I'm going to talk about this a little bit more later, this should be one of the first, I don't know, 10 albums that every aspiring jazz pianist

picks up in the early part of their career. So you're saying this is the greatest jazz piano album ever recorded. Why you got to do that? Why you got to put a big? Tell me a better one right now. Ah, I stumped it. Okay, I see what you see what you did that. Portrait of jazz.

No, okay. I hear it. I hear it. Okay. One of the, I like that. One of the, I think it's just like, even if you don't love Oscar Peterson or what this is. Who doesn't love Oscar Peterson? There are people who don't.

Name them. This is going to be one of those unnamed sources, I know, because no one would, I mean, people might not. He's universally loved, I would say. I would disagree. There are people who think it's the Jazz Olympics that he does two, much that he overplays. I hear these people all the time. But those same people love him also. You know what I mean? I don't know. We'll see. It's like LeBron James. He's too athletic. He dunks too well. It's all about him. I'll tell you what I'm watching him play. If you don't love Oscar Peterson, put in the comments. Right. And we can have a little discussion here in the comments of our YouTube video. I can tell you someone who will not be reentering the comments on that question. Who is it? Mr. Brad Meldow, front of the show, friend of the comments section. Yeah. I bet he won't be saying he doesn't love Oscar Peterson. Well, Brad Meldow, if you're listening and you don't love Oscar Peterson. Tell us why. And hopefully like a very eloquent essay form.

That's right. That's right. Okay, so let's do a little bit of cultural context, Peter. This album came out in 1963. The number one movie in America was Cleopatra. The number one TV show is The Fugitive, not with Harrison Ford, before Harrison Ford. And the number one album in America was in the wind by Peter Paul and Mary. My dad had that on vinyl, I think.

Peter Paul and Mary, cultural touchpoints themselves, all three of them. A mighty wind. Yeah. Little artist background on this. So this is a trio album, one of the great trio album. one of the great trio albums. It's got... Possibly the greatest piano.

That you can make an argument for. It's in the top 10 for sure. Oscar Peterson was 37 years old when you made this album. Ray Brown on the base was 36, and Ed Thigpin was 32 years old on drums. And this was the trio for a minute, man. They were just like on fire during this time.

And Oscar is, I would say, at the peak of his powers and just culturally relevant and just really, you know, a monster on the scene at this point. So we think about, the great piano trios, and we think about them being such separate periods, but they really weren't. Like if you say, and I'm going to miss a whole bunch, I'm sure, but like Bud Powell

trio. Yeah. But that wasn't even as much, like, because there was different iterations of that, different, that wasn't as much of a long term, like these are the three members, although there was members that came and went with this. Yeah. But this was his most iconic of those trios. Ray Brown in that Bud Powell trio as well. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I would say the Bill Evans, a little Later this, but not much. Scott LaFarro and Paul Motion would be like an iconic trio for that. Amad Jamal trio. The Amad Jamal trio, of course, right before this.

And through this. Totally. It has to be in that, in the talking. The Keith Jarrett is not the Keith Jarrett trio, but it is that trio with Gary Peacock and Jack Dejanette. He's got to talk about Brad Meldouse, two separate trios, both with Larry Grenadier. Skipping over a bunch, but yep. Yeah, of course, there's tons. There's, of course, loads and loads.

But I'm just thinking who else during this period or right before, right after? Ahmad for sure. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. But... Red Garland was putting out Trio albums with PC and Philly Joe. Absolutely.

Prestige. That were great. I'm not sure how much of a working trio they were outside of just being in Miles Band together. Right. But they were putting out records together for sure. And there was great rhythm sections, right? So you're talking about 1963.

We're already into McCoy, Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones. Totally. We're definitely... McCoy's putting out trio records at this point, too. That's right. And a little before this. And then Herbie Hancock,

Tony Williams, Ron Carter, of course, really in their early heyday in terms of with Miles Davis in 1963 as well. It was a good time. It was a good time. It was a great time. So this was, as we said, released in 1963, another recorded in December of 1962

in Los Angeles, ever heard of it, the west coast of the United States. I believe I've heard of it, yeah. Yeah. Of course, produced by Norman Grants. Grants, Grants. That's the last one. Gras. That's it.

I think how everybody said it. Yeah. Hey, do you know Norman Grounds? That's what they, I just have people talk back there. I'm here for a session with Norman Gros. Yeah, that's how people talked in 1962. He was probably like Norman, uh, Granziano or something before this,

before his family made this. Totally. But Norman Grants was. Norman now, too. Now it sounds weird however I say, grants. Grants. Stop saying it. Stop.

Stop saying. The madness stop. I love, this is kind of a, it's sort of a, adversarial episode, but kind of a love fest slash. Like, because we both love this record so much, it's going to be hard to be too adversarial. One of the first albums I ever bought. One of the first CDs ever got.

Interesting. So, and I believe we have an original LP here. We do. Producer Caleb brought in, yeah. And we got producer Caleb's DJ turntable that I'm trying my damnedest not to mess up, Caleb. Oh, he's... Producer Caleb, making it already nervous.

He got nervous. I thought you're saying I'm going to try my darnest not to scratch To some active scratching I'm not sure do any scratching in the DJ sets The whole thing is You know Caleb is also DJ Limewire Prime Follow him on Instagram

But he's got he's got DJ gigs all over town So we don't want to mess up his gig gear Is this your gig turn to? That's the active player It's his money maker so we don't want to That's right So this was released in 1963 I'm not exactly sure when

But it was another prompt release Record at the end of December in Los Angeles, for Verve with Norman Grants. And now it sounds weird, Grants, Grants. Again, just stop. Stop saying it.

The album was dedicated to Oscar Peterson's father by Oscar Peterson, of course. Nice. His father worked famously, I think people know this. Oscar Peterson is a Canadian. Yeah.

One of the great, I believe he's on, I know he's on some of their stamps. Like, he is beloved in Canada. We saw the statue, I think it was a statue in Montreal. In Montreal. Go see where his home was

and all that stuff. Yeah. And I've had the chance to meet his, his wife, who's an amazing, wonderful person who's come to several performances I've been part of in. I believe she lives in Toronto now because that's where she,

well, at least that's where she came to the concerts and she's an amazing woman that stays connected with the music. He's the pride of Canada. You know, we did that vocal course with Gillian Margot, Canadian vocalists. Yeah, shout out Canada. Shout out Canada.

And she, when she was a young singer, at I think, she at the University of Toronto or one of them. At the music school in, yeah, that's where we played when I met. Yeah, but she studied with Oscar. Oh, did she? She got to study with Oscar Peterson

in the very beginning of her career. I think it's so cool that Canadian musicians had... Yeah, because he lived in Ontario for a big part of his life, but was from Montreal. But it was dedicated to his father who worked as a sleeping car attendant for the famous Canadian Pacific Railways.

And, of course, there's a rich history of connection between trains, train life, the African-American community, and then this, of course, extends into Canada. That's super interesting, and there's a heritage there,

and connection with the music. Although, you know, Duke Allenton famously had his own sleeping car, which was like the equivalent of early precursor to the tour bus. We're big train city here, man. You know, the manis were trained people. My grandfather worked for Union Pacific on refrigeration cars. My great-grandfather worked as a fireman in North Carolina, I think it was the B&O.

Yeah. These train lines were huge to, like, industry around here. And a fireman was the one who put the coal in the thing. But my dad used to say they used to take the train. on vacations because my grandpa would get this big discount for trips. I don't know. I don't think it was on Union Pacific, but you know what I mean? Amtrak.

Yeah, probably. But I digress. Yes. The train is, not only is it a part of like our cultural history, but it's like so canonized in art and music around the beginning of the 20th century as well because of how over-indexed it was in like connecting people together, connecting the country. So if you're outside of America, you may not realize. They have trains outside of America.

I know, but this place is in. enormous. America is huge. Yeah, nobody knows that, Adam. No, no, no. Sometimes you'll see like British people like... America's big! Sometimes you'll see like British people like, I'm going to drive... Oh, I'm staying in Houston. Yeah, I'm going to drive to Dallas for the day. And it's like, you can't really do that and come back.

You know what I mean? Like, it's way bigger than you might think. Newsflash. USA... This is your... Geographically, I think it's more... No, I got you. USA is big, Adam Manus. Okay. And Texas is big, Adam Manus. Yes.

It's bigger than a European... think who can get to the top and bottom of their country in four hours, it takes a couple of days to get, you know, by car around America. Yeah. And I mean, it takes a long, long time. So these train lines... We're not in our hot take section yet. Can I finish my rant on trains, please, and the railroad feeder? Yes. So we built these train lines. I'm just kidding. But it was culturally, it's, you know, obviously, what I'm fascinated with is musically.

we're going to hear on night train and the song Night Train itself which will get into the complex history of the song but it's there to like you know mimic the sound of the railroads which is incredible. Yeah there's the culture phenomenon of like trains representing travel

and migration and westward expansion and all this but there's also the actual physical sound of the trains and the whistles I love this part about music that like when computers come on the scene things get like you know what I mean like very futuristic and things and like

like when trains are kind of like taken over, like, you know, the blues comes around. It's mimicking the sound of the train going down the tracks and the whistle blowing and all this stuff. It's really great. Well, it's super cool. This is a great album. We're going to get, what else do we say about that?

We got something else produced by it. Oh, yeah. Okay, so Him to Freedom, the last track on here, which we'll hopefully get to on our way out, though. But this is important for the record because this, you know, words were put to this later, not by Oscar Peterson, by a lyricist a year or two later. And it became,

Oscar Peterson wrote him to freedom and dedication to Martin Luther King, and this was during the civil rights movement and the heyday of that, the struggle, of course. And it became kind of an unofficial anthem once the lyrics were added. A really important song in the mid-60s all the way up till today, really. But I think I had actually heard some versions of before I realized that was, before I heard it on this record and realized that it was even Oscar Peterson, which was super interesting.

So that's a huge part of this record, even though it's the final. track, of course, Night Train, the first track that we came in on is the most sort of famous one, the Jimmy Forrest, some connections with St. Louis, of course, because Jimmy Forrest was from here, Duke Allenton recorded it. It was one under a couple different names, but it's an iconic, you know, jazz blues and, of course, train song, not John Coltrane. Maybe he played it, we don't know. We can either confirm or deny that, right? Should we play the first track? Let's do it. This is Night Train. And this is credited to Jimmy Forst, right? Yeah. Jimmy Forrest had a huge hit with this.

A straight up R&B hit because it was once the number one on the R&B billboard charts. However, we've found some evidence that maybe he was borrowing it from a couple different sources. Yeah, it definitely was sourced material. You want to hit the play button there?

Start and stop? There we go. Caleb, nervous. Okay, it comes out firing. The feel there, the laid back eighth note. The anticipation. Those glissandos are masterful, by the way.

Yeah, they're not like this like Yeah This fast thing It's like this like Yeah, the timing Perfectly weighted Yeah And it starts that first course is a shout course

Basically like a big band shout course Tight chords They're on the hits Had on a hat Peter Ed Think Ben's brush playing Whole record Dynamics and the individual stuff they're doing Within lines

Yeah People have thought that Oscar Peterson Was a super busy player This is a great album, especially this track introducing it. This is a lot of economy of motion here, at least as he's getting into it. You like those bluesy

double stops, buddy? Like those bluesy double stops? Good as it gets. This whole album is a lesson on bluesy double stops. Like, do you want to play those diads, those bluesy diads? This is a very heavily orchestrated but you forget a great piano trio

is an orchestration opportunity, you know? It's not just let's play a blues. Yeah, we'll talk about this a little bit later. They're basically a big band. Yeah, that's what I mean. And then economy of tracks. Oh no, there's six on this first. Yeah, six. That comping, why don't we do that more?

Holding it out? I do. You don't? Well, when there's no drums playing, but it's like Ray Brown's, I mean, their time is so dialed in. I think this is like... And then just sneaking in with the hi-hat. It makes a real case for having a working trio that plays all the time together. And these guys

famously, like Ray told Jeffrey Keyes, they would rehearse after the gigs. They would play till 2 a.m. and then Oscar would rehearse them. And they go to bed at like five or six. That's the train right there. This is not that hard too. If you're kind of a,

have some piano skills. This is why I say beginners should start here. If you're starting your jazz piano journey, there's so much to learn just in this opening track. And it's easy to hear. It's easy to find out. You can develop your ears by picking out what Oscar Peters is playing along with the record.

And especially this part, that course they just did, that was like the R&B kind of like the, we should listen to the original, the Jimmy Forrest. Like you don't think of him as a big band drummer, but he's doing the setups at a piano trio volume and scale of a big band drummer, right? Build up here. And I'm telling you, Ray Brown, every time I listen to Asker, anything that Ray Brown's on, he steals the show in a way because of his, I mean, like the swing and the feel is obviously, like that's such a given. that it almost becomes less impressive because it's just a constant, you know? Yeah. But like the little things,

like the constant great intonation. I mean, if the piano's tuned well, it's a good instrument, it's going to have great intonation. But Ray Brown plays in that same way like a greatly in tune piano. It just becomes automatic. And then those harmonics, the detail.

Like, it's beyond just the whole package. It's like dialed it in a way that it's the template. It's like J.J. Johnson at the trombone. It's like, this is the way to do it. You can do it other ways, but it's not going to get on a higher. level in that. I think of it, it's almost equivalent to like Keith Jared on the piano, where he makes it sound so doable what he's doing. Because what he's doing is so perfect for the

song and simple. And I think Keith, while of course Keith has lots of flash as well, like Keith's language on the piano, on first impression is like, oh, that's doable. Like there's like a triad. It's a triad. It's very melodic and singable. And then there's like these bebop flurries that happen in there. And so when you go in then to like, like transcribe what's going on. You're like, oh, okay. WTF. But it's also like such high level decision making.

Yes. Such egoless decision making. Such like completely in the moment decision making that's perfect for the song, serving the song, that that is what Ray Brown is a genius at. He is not just a genius at like his monster chops and this quarter note that's all great

and the solos are amazing. But his real genius is serving the song in the band that he's in at a higher level than pretty much any other bass player. Yeah. Like he is playing the right thing at the right time. And that is, that just takes so much of like a generous spirit of a spirit to serve the music and a lot of dedication to your craft to be able to do those, to make those decisions to have those options available to you. And it's easy to say like, yeah, well, he was, you know, once he was in his 50s and 60s, he was had all the experience and he had the chops he could do this. He's 36 years old. So not a young, young man. And he was also, exactly. Ten years ago. Like, yeah, 10 years before, so it wasn't like, oh, he built up to this.

He just, you know, he had that thing. He maintained it at a level that is very, not rare among jazz musicians, but he was at the top level in terms of maintaining. I got a little chance to play with him. I can tell you the story about practicing when we took a break from rehearsing, he was practicing. And he was well up into his years at that point. So like this stuff doesn't, you don't just get this stuff.

And then, oh, he's talented, he's got a base, he's killer, he's Ray Brown. It's like there's a lot of work and maintenance that goes into. We have six tracks on this one? Let's keep it going, because I don't want to keep skipping tracks for Caleb here. Well, I don't think we know how to operate this thing without keeping going. Let's just press, yeah, exactly. Okay, so number two. This is fun.

We get to look at the record. I know. Oh, C. Jam Blues. So this is a gutsy move here. You're coming in with Night Train. We're going with Cajam Blues. This is a blues record. Before we get to Cajan Blues, we should, let's play our Night Train bits.

Oh, yeah. We got the Night Train version. So we've got the Jimmy Forrest version of, of, sorry. Lost your mic a little bit. All right, it's back? You might have words of wisdom. Okay, so here's the original, not the original, as we're going to learn. But here's Jimmy Forrest's big R&B hit of Night Train.

St. Louis's his own, Jimmy Forrest. Walking the Bar? Did you say Walk in the Bar? Walk in the Bar. What is that? That's when the sax player used to get up on the bar. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But Dave Sammore grew up in St.

It was listening to a lot of this style. Yeah, Gaslight Square, yeah. And then there was the Duke Ellington. What was the name of that track? Oh, from piano, what is it? Happy Go Lucky Local. Happy Go Lucky Local. So that was from 1952.

The Jimmy Forrest version. There's a couple of different Duke Ellington. Do the one that's like piano. I'll tell you. Yeah. Like, yes, piano the background. So this is from 1960, but this is from a tune that is much earlier from the 40s called Happy Go Lucky Local. And this really informs the Oscar Peterson Trio version a lot, the earlier version of Happy

Happy Go Lucky Local. And obviously, that's Night Train. Yeah. Like you're hearing Night Train. Oh, we gotta do this record. This is an overlooked one. Piano in the background. Great record.

And then there's a song from Johnny Hodges called That's the Blues Old Man. Oh. That has the other section. That's that horn thing. What do they call? The whistle. Like the... Man.

So here's Johnny. Hodges and his orchestra. That's the blues old man. Check it out a little bit further down here. Acoustic guitar solo. This is Johnny Hodges? And his mint julep jazz band. I might have missed it here. Here it is. So this is from like 1942 or something. Yeah. When it was written. So you can clearly hear Night Train in that, which would come out in the 50s. So Jimmy Forrest, while he's credited with Night Train, definitely he's pulling from Duke Bellington and Johnny Hodges. Yeah. For sure. All right, let's keep rolling a little C-jams. Be of Duke Ellington. Greatest breaks ever? One of the greatest breaks ever.

It's great break. And you know what? I think a lot of people miss about that. You see the notes laid out on the transcription. You're like, oh, I can play that. You can't. Dynamics and accents. Second break.

It's about to become the first. Let's do it again. The kids want. That's all the kids want these days. That's all they need. It's how much they pull that drums down in the mix there. We're going to talk about this mix here at the end. I love it.

Isn't that amazing? So I think that that there's, of course, the iconic, well, now iconic version with the same trio from right around the same time, maybe even the same year, from Denmark. We'll link to that as well, live in, I think it was in Copenhagen, somewhere in Denmark with this trio where they're all, well, they're always wearing Texas. Same tune where they're stretching out even more. It's the encore from that concert. Amazing. A lot of the same vibe. But I think with this, because I heard that, of course, later from this.

Like, this was, like, Night Train was, the whole album was, like, shattering. me. Yeah. Because I'd heard Oscar Peterson before this album, when I heard this this kind of like, you know, qualified and quantified it in a way where it was like, damn! The energy on this is off the charts, and I got to say, Caleb, listening to it on the vinyl is amazing. Like, it sounds so much better than it does

streamed. Yeah. The quality of the sound in this room. I mean, I know it's scratchy, but like it is, it is, it's real warm. It is warm. It is what they say. And like the stuff on the mix comes through in a way. You can hear this bottom on the piano attack. I just don't hear when I'm listening on Spotify.

Love you, Spotify. And even like the balance from the mix and stuff, it's just so much more just, I don't know, not only accurate, it's just, you feel like you're there. Let's keep it rolling. What's next? George on my mind. Oh, by the way, so we can just jump right into it. That was your, should we talk about the bangor?

Oh, yeah. That was my, that. Because you hit it. My banger was for solo was O.P. Solo on the C. Jam Blues. Specifically that break section, I think it's some of the best playing of Oscar's entire career, is that solo on Cajam Blues. And actually that live video that you're going to link here in the description is maybe his second greatest playing of his career. But well, there's also...

It's almost like the ultimate live version of it. You know what I mean? It's like it's a little longer. It's a little bit more. But it's very much like true to the original. There's one other solo for me that could be in contention with it, which is his solo on how high the moon at live from the Stratford. The Stratford, Shakespeare Festival. That's an incredible.

I mean, it's just like, it's just like a superhuman kind of solo. Yeah, for sure. But the C-JN-Blue solo from Night Train is, I think, top tier. Good. S-tier. S-tier. Is the top? Yes.

S is the top. S for Steinway. Okay, here we go. George on my mind. Is there room with us right now? You're Peterson. Like, he had the ability to play the obvious thing, like the right thing at the right time. And it's easy to be like, of course he's going to play that phrase.

He's going to come out of that bluesy. but there's something to be said for doing the right thing at the right time and doing it like off the charts quality-wise you know and so when people try to imitate him it can it can come out sounding you know a little regurgitative regurgitating somebody you know but it's just sublime the way he does it you know

like you can almost expect what's well I know the record but but in a beautiful way like oh my god he played that It's like, oh my God, he played that so well. Ah, so good. So just dynamics, man. Just wonderful. Never too far from the melody on the ballads, Oscar.

Yeah. Which is a really important lesson for young musicians. He's never 10 seconds from the melody. No. And it's really like he's managing all the dynamics right now. Great Brown and think for a new sensibility about him. Oh. The greatest.

Keep it rolling, Peter. I think the next one is... I'm adding to my underrated simple endings. Simple. Next up we got Bags Groove. This is my banger track. I think this is the track of

not just Night Train, but maybe of this trio. Ray Brown solo here, one of the best Ray Brown solos ever. Oscar Peterson's very subtle solo on this G- Blues is stunningly beautiful. The way he's already solo

on the head. With his bass lines. Arrangements, too. By the way, this is one of our six blues tunes here on Open Studio. Pro for our blues season.

For the fall blue season, 2024, we're working on, I know Bob Dubu right now is working on Ray Brown's baseline on Oscar Peterson's solo, and we will be working on Oscar Peterson solo right after this chorus. Yeah, so good, man. This is something I'm saying. This is one of Ray's best. But it's the same thing. He's not doing anything where you're like, what hell is that?

It's more of like, how the hell does he play that, you know, so well? tonicizing that four every time. Look out. What? It's music right here? It's like they're stuck in the... I want a raw sweet potato. Oh, potato French fries.

I know, Caleb. Are they bluesy? Greatest. Spacey. It's not the flashiest solo, but I think it's one of my favorite solos, Oscar Fidon. It's masterful.

Very Aero Garner inspired that one. That's the big band. That's the orchestra. That Aero Garner. But the arc of this. thing with the base, I mean, from beginning to end, man. Yeah. It's just a, it's a master class on play. Very, very entertaining, improvised high-level music.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And then when you add to that, just all the little details of the abrupt, what did I put on here? Abrupt. Master, what did I call it? Abrupt. Simple abrupt endings. Another one. I mean, the thing you have to remember about Oscar Peterson is like when you when you hear him speak in an interview or you read him in an interview around his entire career you're talking about a very

it's stopped it's okay yeah yeah you're talking about a very elegant man yeah this is someone who's like incredibly eloquent well he's from canada he's from canada but like eloquent in everything he says he's very soft-spoken he's a sweater officiado these amazing sweaters just

I don't know why that stuck out to me. But it comes across in his playing, this sort of like warmth and this incredible eloquence, right? It's like this level of sophistication, as you said, Peter, in the details that make it, that really make it this elevated piece of work. Yes. You know, I mean, it's just like...

And, you know, it doesn't always happen, having the chance to meet him a couple times and see him live a few times, which was one of the great joys and honors of, like, my musical. career or exploration of music. I mean, it's right up there at the top of the list. Maybe we should slide that down over that.

There we go. Boom. Bam. Audio engineer. No, but I'm saying like getting to be around him a little bit, these elements that you're saying of his music was very much his public persona. But as far as I could say, I didn't know him well or anything, but Jeffrey Kieser, Benny Green, Greg Hutchinson, folks that I know that recorded with him and we're playing with him some. Like they're around him.

very much like who he was. So it's always fun when somebody's personality matches, it's not always the case, but matches the way that they play, like when those elements come together. Caleb, let's flip this record over. Let's listen to the first two tracks of the B-side, because those are your bangers.

You got Honey Dripper and Things Ain't what they used to be. And we can hear Peter's bangor track is Honey-Tripper. So that would be, yeah, we'll start at the top. All right, so this is Honey Dripper, the beginning of the side too. Great Slipper. side two bangor to start out with.

And this is my, what is this? My track banger. Here we go. Boom. In the train. That's okay. It's okay. It's okay. So, no, no, no, don't worry about it. So we've always got the streaming version we can go to.

This is good. See, this shows the frailty, the fallacy perhaps of the LP. It's such a good track. It's such a great track. It's a great track. But like the swing level when they make that transition, which we actually just miss there, is just amazing. I mean, look, I could have picked anything as the banger, but I love this tempo. I love the

vibe. I love the orchestration, the segmentation of the way that they set this off. It's just great. And then your solo is, was this Oscar solo on things ain't what they used to be? Yes. Yeah. I love Oscar at this tempo. It's a little ways to get into the solo, but that's okay. We love it. We got to know where to go. Where do we got to be? I'm like Mcloving. I'm McLevin. McDonald's. So sorry, everybody. He tagged it with McDonald's. An American hamburger chain. Also, newsflash, the USA is a large, I mean geographically, a large country.

Okay, that's true. Texas, Big A.F. Quote, Adam Manus, 2024. Unbelievable. Good enough for you. Dynamics. I'm loving it. Are you Mick loving it?

Left hand. Check out the left hand. S subtle but effective. I love the way he counts on this. Shifting in and out of his triplets and it. It's funny because, like, this kind of playing, it seems like so easy and natural for them. But just think, like, when everybody's so in the groove,

like the slightest error would be so obvious on this. Like, if Ed Thickpan is like, you know, like some weird rhythm, it would just be like, out of course, right? Yeah, but it's not a shout, is it? No, it's a whisper chorus. Yeah. It's a subtle. It's like a murmur course.

A murmurs. Have some murmurs. Oh, the patience on that groove, too. Placement of the beep. Textbook. Patience in the arrangement, too. Again, too. You know, it's like a, every phrase is a bit of language that's part of the vernacular of the music.

You know what I mean? Like, every phrase can be used for an aspiring student. Man, that is a banger. And then you know, there's an oddity here, too, Peter, on the Spotify. Yes. That we're now looking at because the record started skipping. The track after this. Shout out techniques.

So, like, that track has almost three million plays, which is a lot. But, like, Georgia on my mind has 30 million plays, which is a whole lot. But I got it bad and then it good has 100 million plays. That's like... 100 million plays. That's like... That's like Olivia Rodriguez numbers. I don't know.

Olivia. Yeah. This must be on a playlist, right? Like a big time... Yeah, I'm sure. Coffee jazz. Snobby coffee jazz to bore your way through the afternoon. Because I don't...

Like, I know this version, obviously, but I don't have any kind of like... Yeah, it's a coffee house jazz. It must be. Did you like an oat milk latte or... I would love an oatmeal latte, actually, right? right now. How about a horchato? A horchato. Horchato. What's a horchato? That is a Mexican coffee drink that includes coconut milk often. Horchata? Horchata. Horchata. Hortata. I think it's a A.m. Cortato. Cortata. Cortata. Cortata. Okay, now I'm getting hungry. Yeah. It's a great album,

let's get to some awards. Let's get to some over underdog. Oh, which one? Well, So let's do underrated first, our underdog, right? Okay. The blues. The blues is underrated. As a genre in jazz, the blues is essential. It's the most perfect musical communication device that's ever been devised. Yeah.

It has been timeless. It lasts forever. It's just like this incredible medium that has been given to us, like a gift by the masters of the music. And this album... And how do you know it lasts forever? Can you tell the future? Okay. That was pendantic.

For sure. Sorry. No, that was definitely... So far. We'll say so far. It's lasted forever. It's still the test of time thus far. It has. It has. Nothing lasts forever. I mean, if you think about it, in terms of being a form that is a behind-the-scenes kind of musicians, like what are the mechanics of it, but also to people around the world, something that they hear and identify without even knowing what it is, it's probably the most iconic musical form that exists in the world today.

Not like saying this kind of blues or that, but just like people hearing the, in different styles of music. that underpinnings, you know, I mean, more than the sonato allegro form or something that is great and interesting too. But I mean, in terms of like what people hear and, you know, brings people to some cultural awareness of what they're listening, it's the most iconic. Sound of the blues is just unmistakable and it's really just necessary if you want to learn how to play this music. Yeah. Another underrated thing that you have here, Peter, is straight up swinging trio. Yeah. We don't have to go straight eights all the time. You can, but. There's nothing wrong with swinging. I'm going to say that one more time. There's nothing.

than wrong with swinging. You can be tipping. Dude, you just got yourself a... It's 2024. You just got yourself a all expenses paid season past to Jazz and Lincoln Center for saying that, sir. Well, they are not wrong about the swing. Listen, I don't swing in my own personal life. Yes, you do. You did it all the game. No, but it's, man. No, but it is. It's just like you can just play these tunes, you can just swing out. Now, some would argue, well, yes, if you're the Oscar Peterson Trio. True. But that's a template there, like I say, like a lot of this stuff, like the spirit of what they're playing, you might not be able to play it at as high of a level as them, especially this way of doing it. I don't think that anybody can, but, I mean, the greatest

players can get very close, but anybody can tap into that spirit of this. I think if you'd like the sound, you know, Sumi, I like it. Okay, another underrated element that I think is highlighted well on this record is hits. Oh, like big time pop hits? No, no, not that. They did that on get request. This is more like, you know, be, like big band hits. Yeah,

big band hits often. And shout choruses. Oh, man. And murmur. The trio, murmur choruses. King of the shout chorus. Yeah.

This is an Erlarner. And dynamics. Man, the dynamics on this record, like we always think about trio, like our instinct is to move away from dynamics because we erroneously think, well, I mean,

there's a certain amount of dynamics that's built into a great combination of instruments like that. The acoustic bass, acoustic piano and drums, like with great play. So in a way, yes, you can ignore dynamics, but oh, it's so much more interesting when we use those elements

the way that Oscar Peterson Trio does. Probably the most underused thing by beginner and intermediate musicians are dynamics. And some advanced musicians. Yeah, I agree. If you want to, like, literally tonight level up the quality of your playing

and of your band, consider more dynamics. Yep. Either spontaneously or in your arrangements. Word. Simple but abrupt endings. Those are underrated or overrated. underrated because I think I love them on this.

Because the way that they play and the way that the flow of the tune is like you don't need a whole bunch. Sometimes big long endings, Kenny Garrett, four minutes of improv are exactly what the music calls for. So like you guys, this is not always, but for this kind of playing, this works so well. And so I think sometimes we just put a bunch of stuff at the end because we think we have to. Spada. Bo do do. Bo do.

Bap. Batska da. Doba do. Baa. Baa. Baa. Baa. But if, no.

Okay. That's what I'm saying. It's too much. Too much. Too much. No mas. Great example, Peter. Great example.

And a little foreshattering on my star. I'm going to go back into Do Not Disturbs, which I'm normally in. Very strange that I'm not. Overrated, the cover of this album. But we'll talk about that when we get to a Cucho Mall. A hard pass on that take. Okay. All right.

Let's talk about some awards. Yes. What would you say is the John? This is always our most interesting. The John Coltrane Thief Award. Who stole this record from a record from a record? Oscar Peterson. Yes.

I'm going to say it's Val Valentine. Well, he stole my heart because I don't know who, my Valentine heart, because I don't know who that is. Val Valentine, sorry. Val Valentine was the engineer on this record. Oh, it was not Norman Gauls. Val Valentine engineered this Jones, and it sounds amazing. It does.

So you're saying he's, I was going to say Ray Brown was the, had the theft door. Yeah, possibly Ray Brown, but I'm going to give it up to the engineer. I'm not sure if he stole it from Oscar Peterson, but damn, just a little love for Val, because it sounds amazing. It really does. We're hearing a name

for the first time. That's, that makes it. The Oscar Peterson overplaying award. Actually, it's not Val Valentine. It's Val Valentin. Valentin? Yep.

No E at the end. Shout out to Val Valentin. Your name finally spoken in the annals of history in the way that it should be with no E. And I'm sure you never in your life got Val Valentine.

Okay, our next award that we always love doing is going to be very interesting. The Oscar Peterson overplaying award. I don't agree with this. You've got to going to Oscar Peterson. Who else is like that?

I don't think he's overplaying. He's not overplaying, actually. Well, how's he going to get an overplaying award? It's got to go to Oscar Peterson. But he's playing less like, he plays heavier on an Ele Fitzgerald Live and Rome record than he does on his trio record. He played more notes on the first track of the Ella Fitzgerald Live in Rome. I think it might go to Ray Brown on this.

Ray Brown does some busy playing on this. Okay. That is, would be. hilarious if Ray Brown got the Oscar Peterson overplaying award on an Oscar Peterson Trio but you might be right here. Because Oscar Peterson is very tasteful and subtle throughout this whole thing.

He's really like not playing, he's not overplaying at all actually. The Keith Jared vocalization award goes to Oscar Peterson. Only because you can hear him a couple times. Yeah, there's not a lot, but there's more than anyone else. And really there's no Cecil Taylor taking out an award because this is all right down the middle. Look at that to Norman Gralls

just for fun. I'm going to give it to you for saying grants that way. Okay. Who are some subs that could have, some first call, top shelf, S-tier subs that could have come in, say, on the piano, for instance? I think for the aesthetic of the record, Errol Garner would be the first. I think as Oscar's hero, you'd have to put Art Tatum in the mix on this, but it would be a completely different record. And then I think if we were looking at modern players, obviously Benny Green could crush this if he had to recreate this album. He's well-versed in the Oscar Peterson Trial stylings. And then base-wise, you know, Christian McBride, Ray Brown devotee.

I put Bob our own Bob Dubu. Bob Dubu is another Ray Brown head and would actually, I think, really crush this. And you have Bob Hurst here as well. Rob Hurst. Yeah, I mean, he's such a, you know, along the lines of Christian McBride. I wonder if either one of them, well, I should ask him.

Just like if they would be like, who's your favorite bass player? I think they would both say Ray Brown. I mean, if they weren't like, you know, being like, well, it depends on what. Just if you had to pick one. Or maybe I should say, who's the most influential bass player for each of them.

I believe, I don't want to speak for them, they would both say Ray Brown for their playing in their life too, because they both were close with them. I think so. I know Christian, you know, he has that lesson here at Open Studio called like Paul, Ron and Ray. Yeah.

Talking about Paul Chambers, Ron Carter and Ray Brown. Yeah. But you can just hear it in his playing. The influence is heavy. But the main thing, Christian McBride, Bob Duboo, Robert, like they could all come in. They're not going to be Ray Brown, but they could all come in and nail this stuff

in a way that would do it justice. Drums. Drums, Buddy Rich, who we know has played with Oscar, Peterson in the past in a quartet setting. And you might say, oh, he's way too bombastic and big bandish for that. No, not buddy in these situations, though. Especially around this time. And has a history with Ray Brown playing with Bud Powell's trio.

Vernel Fornier, you put that there. I think that's a great call, Peter. That was actually producer Caleb. I did enter it into the database, but Caleb provided that. And that's a great one because great trio pianist, I mean, drummer. And we are contractually obligated to mention Gregory Hutchinson. as every first call sub. He could do all of these.

We put him in there. He's done in every single one. I mean, he could come in and nail this record. Is Hutch the most like incredibly versatile drummer of all time? Well, I don't know about that, but he's the... He might be the most versatile drummer ever. He's the most versatile drummer for records that we love. Think about another drummer that can groove as hard as him and can swing as hard as him.

There are not many. Art Blakey. No. Elvin Jones. No. Sam Wood. yard. No.

Chris Dave. No. Can't do both. That's what I'm saying. Who can do both? Steve Gadd. No. Okay.

Okay. Well, you're naming people. Karim Riggins. Possibly. Possibly. Yeah, possibly. Yeah, for sure. But Hutch, I think, you know what it is too, for the kind of records that we like,

which is, I wouldn't say as is narrow. I mean, look, we're talking about nitrate. Wow, we're really going on a limb. This is a great record. Newsflash. Newsflash. The U.S. is big, and this is a great record. Newslash, buddy.

But yeah, I think especially for our aesthetic, Hutch just, he just can do a lot of this stuff. So it is what it is. Bespoke genre, Peter, what do you got? I think this is a classy and sometimes sassy trio jazz. Classy, sassy trio jazz. That's too long for it. Classy and sassy.

Classy and sassy. Classy Trio jazz. I have Trio Big Band because of the, just like, it's like a big band in a trio format. And then I also have. That's boring. Trio big bands. Okay. Got it. It's confused.

choosing too. Peter is not a fan. And then Bluebop, I have. I like that better. That's a bespoke genre. Yeah, because there's so much blues on this album. So we're going to go with classy and sometimes sassy trio jazz. Got it. Why don't we just say classy and sometimes

zazzy or sassy jazz? Sassy jazz. I don't know. Sazzy? Zaddy jazz? No. No, okay. Okay, let's talk about the accruciamance. Let's talk about this iconic cover.

Well, I kind of cover. I kind of gave that away. Because this is the rare time when I think we're going to digress in our viewpoints on this. You don't enjoy it. I'm meh on the cover. I mean, I don't not enjoy it.

I mean, I love it. This is the thing. If I didn't love this record so much and I didn't have such a connection with the cover and the music and such a history with it, like doing this holding and enjoying it, I think I would hate it actually.

Not hate it, but I would strongly be like, no, I don't like it. I think it's one of the weakest of the great, great, great, jazz albums that we look at, like, sort of top ten greatest jazz albums of all time kind of those kind of records, which this could definitely be in there, I would say it's one of the

least aesthetically pleasing to me. Just the font, the train, I don't know what this is here. I mean, it's, yeah, I'm not a fan. I love it. I think it's one of the greatest album covers in that era. Artistically? Separate from the music. I think it's,

I mean, I know it's a little on the nose that it's a train and the album's called Night Train. But it's not even, it's like a new train. and it's like a modern train kind of, 1963? It's a beautiful, like, 1950s and 60s train. I don't know what kind of model it is, but it's kind of an abstract photograph of it. It gets a little blurred and then blacked out,

and there's this like purple and blue. And as far as album covers go, like, there's nothing quite like it. Like, when you see it, it's very, very distinctive. You know what I mean? This, like, abstract... I think it's not distinctive. I just said I didn't like it.

I think it's great. I do think it's not even good. I think it's great. Great. but we're going to. Caleb, you break the time. Are we going to agree to disagree on this one? Caleb is saying, uh-oh, he's deep and thought.

I got to give a play about him. I love the picture of the train, yes, but I do give a real camera because I don't like how small that it's... Yeah, so in case you can't hear Caleb, he doesn't like the way... He basically agrees with me. Got it. He likes the train. Yeah, it's like so distinct.

You know it's night train. Early 80s. It's got that purpley, blue Reebok. Exactly right. It's right. Plus, I love records with the artists on them somehow.

And I know we've talked about some great album covers that are just art, but to me that's not art. So Peter now is in the business of deciding what is and is an art. To me, that's not hard. Don't accuse me of gatekeeping. Wait, is that the definition

of gatekeeping? Yes. Okay. Not in my back. NIMBY. I get it. I get your points. You know what?

I do love. all you work on though. This is great. You know what's great about that joke? It just keeps getting funnier. Is that great or what's, oh, it's too hot to handle? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay, we'll move on. All right, hot takes. Let us know, please. I mean, always we want to hear your comments

on anything. Gallo, of course, we love. But let us know what you think about this album cover. I would be very interested to hear, because I think it's going to be split. It might be. Like it is. So let us know thumbs up or thumbs down and the reason why in the comments, please, on this album cover. I mean, you can let us know about the album, too, but I feel like that's not

going to be split. With our audience, this is going to be a lot of thumbs up for the music, but the album cover, that's interesting. Hot takes, I think this album should be in every piano's first batch of albums. Their first 10 albums, they should get Night Train and study it for the, again, there's so much language packed into this. All those, like you said, the hits, the shout choruses, there's so much to learn. You could sound pretty good with about six months of really, you know, diving deep into this. If you're at a level where you have some piano skills, right? And you're getting into jazz for the first time, you're going to to learn some like really interesting voicing

that are doable. You're going to learn some melodies that are really actionable like to take to the jam session that night because you're going to play a blues at jam session. And you're going to learn a lot of tunes that are still jam session standards. So it's a great entree

point. So hot take is that this should be in everybody's first batch of albums. I'm trying to think if that is much of a hot take is the USA is a big. Yep, it's pretty similar. The USA is big. This is a great album that every piano should have. Did you know it's cold in Alaska? Not always.

I don't know if Europeans knew there. Yeah. Is it better than K-O-B? No, you're skipping something. Oh, snobometer. Snobometer. Snobometer. Okay, I have this as a seven.

Why? You sneered at that in our pre- So you think it's a pretty snobby record. I think snobs would love this record. But not, I mean, not off the charts love it. I don't think snobs like Oscar Peterson. Really? I don't think so.

I mean, it's popular, so I brought it down some. I've heard snobby jazz musicians say that Oscar Peterson is just the jazz Olympics and that it's just showing out. Maybe right. Would Aunt Linda love this record? I think she would like it more than she would like any Thelonius Monk album. That's true. Yeah. That's true.

Okay, four. I'll go with four. What are you going with? Four. Oh, perfect. Is it better than KOB? What do you say, Adam? No.

No. Well, I'm going to go with a no, but very tantalizingly closed. If KOB's a nine, that's an eight and a half. for something. 8.85. Oh, split in the difference. Yeah. How's KOB at 9, though? We've had many tens. I put this record as a 10. We've had a couple of 10s.

I think we've only had one. We don't do that system anymore because it's confusing. Why, at 10 out of 10? But if KOB's a 9, there was, I think, Love Supreme was a 10. So is this not a 10 to you? No, not a ton. Interesting. There's some flaws in it. There's too many tracks.

What? There's too many tracks. There's 12 tracks. Sue me, because there's so many great tracks. There's 11 tracks. There's 11 tracks. There's 11 tracks. There should be probably eight. Wow. Yeah. It can be a bit repetitive after a while. Trio record, you got to, yeah. It's a big country, man. Give it a break. It is. I'm never hearing the end of that one. That was just for this one, man. That was fun, man. This was really fun. No, thank you, Peter. Thank you, Caleb, for getting the LP on this. You guys, let us know in the comments. Anything that you want, but especially, oh, what are you doing?

that's going to be Okay Here we go Let us know the comments What you think of the album cover We love you Till next time You'll hear it

Was this in the studio at the session By the way Yeah Yeah