Customer Reviews

At the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975

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Of course everybody knows "Very Tall" the first album Milt Jackson and Oscar Peterson did together.
It's a jazzclassic (both Milt and Oscar agree on that - I interviewed both)and everybody should have it.
But this is LIVE on the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975, a Festival where everything was great, certainly the pairing of these two masterswingers.
"Bags" (Milt Jackson) often said that the Modern Jazz Quartet was too classical for his taste, John Lewis is no swinger you know.
But here, with Oscar he is like a fish in the water.
The two masters swing like mad, backed by Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, the fastest bassplayer around and Louis Bellson, a heavyweight with the sticks.
Every track is a gas, and it is sad that an additional track "Slow death", certainly as great as all others, is not on this cd, but on the compilation cd: "Montreux Collection: Highlights from the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975".
But if you buy this collection as well, and you have to, after you listened to this one, you will also have Oscar's uncredible solo track: "Cubano Chant".
I found this cd in Amazon's Ray Brown chapter, but sorry Amazon, no Ray Brown on this one!
It's Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass!
No matter what others say, this is unlimited, fantastic, great and hard swinging jazz of Olympic caliber.
Montreux '75 deserves 100 stars !
Jazz will never see the pairing of masters like Milt and Oscar again.

Arnold van Kampen, jazzcritic/writer, the Netherlands.

It must be a daunting experience to have to share the stage with Oscar Peterson; his over-the-top, even crushing style can bring out the worst in other players. That's the case with this album. Milt Jackson can play with the best of them, but on this festival date he feels the need to turn his vibes inside out to wring it of every note it might contain - similar to what pianist Peterson does. Of the eight tunes, all except one are taken either way up tempo or slow, and these two play so many notes between the chords on the slow numbers that they feel just as fast as the up tempo ones. Only LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE is taken at a relaxed medium tempo, and it's the best track on the CD by far. Perhaps the festival crowd put these men in the mood to play this way, but with all those notes going down there isn't a whole lot being said with them. A disappointing outing.