Search - Oscar Peterson :: Exclusively for My Friends, Vol. 5: Mellow Mood

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Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 09/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not sure what an SACD is, but the audio quality is plenty good when played on ordinary equipment (though Bobby Durham's drum kit could have been boosted in the mix).



This may be the most potent, hard-swinging documentation of the Oscar Peterson trio yet. Oscar is reported to have said that Sam Jones played "out of tune," but Sam lays down a rock-solid foundation that rivals Ray Brown's, and though his tone is darker and grittier than Ray's, Sam's note choices--especially the repeated chromatic patterns--create tension that sets up Oscar's mighty climaxes and releases. "Sometimes I'm Happy" is even more deliberately simmering and explosive than the version Oscar recorded with Ray and Ed Thigpen 6-7 years earlier at Chicago's London House. Duke's "In a Mellotone" is a virile, super-potent opener, featuring not one but two sequences during which "naked" piano and bass are suddenly joined by Bobby Durham's press roll and sizzingly ride cymbal, each sequence culminating in a commanding climax. I'm not sure why a session like this one would be entitled "Mellow Mood," unless the reference is to the listener's emotional state after being alternately exhilarated and exhausted by Oscar's thunder.



Oscar could not have performed more than several years with Jones and Durham, and there appears to be little recorded ducumentation representing the potent chemistry of this power team. Pick up "Mellow Mood" and chances are you'll want the other volumes in this impressive series."