Search - Oscar Pettiford :: Deep Passion

My Favorite CD Ever!!!!

Christopher Byars | New York City | 02/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, I can only say this about one CD, and this is it. The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra has it happening on so many levels - improvising, composing, ensemble playing, orchestration + arranging, recording quality, etc. It's the best music I've ever heard in my life. And I've heard a lot of music.



It's rare combination of a mid-size big band with added colors of two french horns, a harp and an overdubbed pizzicato cello. The arrangers (Lucky Thompson, Gigi Gryce, Benny Golson) have fun with incorporating these unusual addition into the mix, and pull it off beautifully. French horn solos by Julius Watkins are absolutely unconscious. If you can't bring yourself to buy this, at least preview it...it's something every human being should hear at least once.



The Oscar Pettiford Band was also known as "The Birdland Band," playing live frequently in 1956 and 1957. Their theme song was the rather mellow "The Gentle Art of Love." It's a rare treat to hear Lucky Thompson and Gigi Gryce play together, as well as the lead trumpet clinic by Ernie Royal. The rhythm sections cooks. It's just great. Please enjoy."

Re-issued In Spain For a Much Lower Price!

Mike In NYC | 05/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Complete 1959 & 1963 United Artists Complete Big Band Studio Recordings" is available from Spain's Lone Hill Jazz. It has the same tracks plus three more from a live broadcast. Despite the title, the music was actually recorded in 1956 & 1957. Perhaps they were published in 1959 & 1963. The remastering is very good. Amazon lists this CD for $15.98 with free shipping on orders of $25 or more. Used copies are available for less with $2.98 S&H."

A resplendent gift from one of the phenomenal four bassists

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 08/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I see this has recently been reissued for a mere fifty bucks by a Spanish company (the cost of excellence in a culture that prefers to its indigenous treasures the generic, the mediocre and the mindless). Nonetheless, the fidelity of this originally ABC-Paramount recording (entitled "The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi") manages to preserve the identifiable, unique sound of Pettiford's bass--light but definitive, always dead-on pitch and squarely-center on the beat. And surprising, especially for a quasi-big band recording (scaled down slightly and with unusual orchestration), is the focus on Pettiford's cello work, which is quite possibly the best the instrument has sounded on any jazz recording past or present.



The arrangements are fresh and sizzling, breezy and swinging, with instruments like harp (not a harmonica!) and French horns used not merely for color (though they definitely cast an unmistakable, distinctive hue on the entire proceedings) but as solo instruments (to my mind, Julius Watkins' French horn is used far more effectively here that it would be later in Mingus' groups). Most of the tunes are first rate. Horace Silver's "Speculation" merely adds proof to the suspicion of many that the worst thing that happened to his career was "Song for My Father," which showed him how easy it is to make money (Who can blame him? Jazz is not known for providing reliable income streams). Prior to "Song for Dad" Horace was writing and orchestrating tunes that approached the compositional genius of the Maestro himself, Duke Ellington.



Also a force to be reckoned with on the date is Gigi Gryce, both as soloist (on alto) and composer-arranger. He's another unjustly passed-over/forgotten seminal musical force of progressive mainstream jazz growing out of Charlie Parker in the mid-50s and beyond. But make no mistake about it. This is the date of one of the most important bass players in the history of jazz. In fact, the cornerstone of the Valhalla of indispensable American jazz bassists carries the names of an indelible, exceedingly eminent foursome: Jimmy Blanton, Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, and Oscar Pettiford."