My Favorite Instrument

Oscar Peterson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 27, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000046TT
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,524 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Someone to Watch over Me

2. Perdido

3. Body and Soul

4. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)

5. Bye Bye Blackbird

6. I Should Care

7. Lulu's Back in Town

8. Little Girl Blue

9. Take the "A" Train

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest jazz piano album? It's more than that!, July 15, 2002

By 

Mark Blackburn (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Favorite Instrument (Audio CD)

"I have believed for many years that Oscar Peterson is not only the greatest pianist in jazz today, but the greatest it has ever known. The style is drawn from many sources including Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, George Shearing, James P. Johnson, and others. Oscar's awareness of jazz history is so great that I doubt there's anything in the tradition of jazz piano that he hasn't encompassed in his work. Oscar is the great eclectic of jazz piano. Bach was a great eclectic. History cares less who did something first than it does who did it best. Oscar does all the things his predecessors did, but better.

Consider the Tatum influence. Oscar plays the Tatum runs as fast as Tatum did. And he plays them with more power, more muscle, and above all with more swing. Oscar's dynamic sense is greater than Tatum's . . . . despite the musical wonder of Tatum's playing, his work, for me, lacked the emotional depth and stylistic range that Oscar displays here." (From the Gene Lees' album liner notes of 1968.)

In its July 2002 death notice for Ray Brown, Time Magazine noted that Oscar Peterson's trio (with Brown) is generally considered the greatest in jazz history. Not surprisingly then Oscar's rare solo recordings are easily overlooked within the huge discography of Oscar's trio recordings most of them still in print (Amazon.com lists 210 of these).

Peterson's only other solo album "Tracks" with its odd assortment of lesser standards and seldom-played tunes can't help but be eclipsed by the offerings here on "My Favorite Instrument." And until something better comes along, this for many of us will remain our favorite, solo, piano recording.

In fact, one could make the case that everything about this CD is the best: The pianist, obviously, is at the very peak of his powers---one minute swinging as only he can and then, alternately, with his sublime pedal work, launching into the most heart-rendingly beautiful, pensively-shaded variations on great standards, most notably Little Girl Blue. Oscar's take on the Dick Rodgers masterpiece must surely be as definitive for pianists as Sinatra's version of the song is for vocalists. As Gene Lees put it: "If I were told that I could have only one track out of the album, and all the rest would be destroyed, this is the one I'd select." You can almost feel Peterson's radiant enthusiasm as he delves into old favorites on his newly-discovered piano-of-choice----the largest Bosendorfer then made in Germany.

The sound engineering by Hans G. Brunner-Schwer (a German who would eventually head his own record companies) is astonishing, even by today's standards. It's also a testament to German recording equipment, including German microphones (various) that gradually took over every major recording studio on the planet in the intervening 30 years. (Sinatra always insisted on using a Neumann; enough said.) Still, it makes you wonder about American recording studio engineering in the 1960s; by comparison, all our favorite Bill Evans albums sound like products of the 50s.

One also wonders---is this as good as solo piano will ever get? Even as incremental improvements keep coming on the technical side: We notice Amazon.com now offers a Japanese, audiophile version of "My Favorite Instrument" enhanced by 25-bit technology. (A question for the experts with access to jillion dollar stereos: Will the rest of us be able to detect the difference on our portable CD players?)

Any superlatives attached to this CD are unlikely to top the following quote-within-a-quote from the conclusion of Gene Lees' original liner notes: "I am tempted to say this is the greatest jazz piano album ever made. And maybe it is. But it's more than that. Said one fascinated musician on hearing it, 'This surpasses jazz.' So it does."

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oscar's first solo album shows his versatility, July 21, 1998

By 

Kent Stallard (Gilbert, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Favorite Instrument (Audio CD)

While no one denies Oscar Peterson's technical prowess,some critics throughout the years have dismissed his playing as shallow and showy. Consideration of this album with an unbiased ear will convince the listener otherwise. Sure,Oscar's impressive pyrotechnics are on display here,as would be expected. But until you hear Peterson's tender,Debussy-like rendition of Little Girl Blue,you haven't heard the other side of this legendary jazz pianist. It's simply wonderful,and it's Oscar's lyricism and use of harmony--not his technique--that grabs the listener on this cut. Bye Bye Blackbird is Peterson in full "swing",and he proves here that he can swing on a level that few can approach. Tatum had even more technique,but he didn't force you to tap your foot like Oscar does. On Take the "A" Train, Peterson captures the feel of a big band using only the piano. As a pianist myself,I can only shake my head and smile as I listen to this (unfortunately) rare solo! effort by one of the greatest jazz artists ever. If you want to know just how much feel and power can be elicited from a piano,you owe it to yourself to audition this album. Kent Stallard

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Proof Positive of the World's Greatest Jazz Pianist, July 26, 1998

By 

Shannon W. Mack ([e-mail]) (Los Alamitos, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Favorite Instrument (Audio CD)

After much deliberation and hours of listening, I have determined that Oscar Peterson is the greatest jazz pianist of all time. Many will argue for Art Tatum but they have not heard this album. Peterson is always lyrical, even in the fastest scalar passages. His imagination is boundless and his ideas as fresh as they are complex. The only problem with this album is its brevity. It weighs in at a meager 43 minutes. No matter, you can listen to this one a dozen times and not get tired of it.