Vinyl LP repressing. From the opening bars of the title track of this beautiful album, Oscar Peterson lays down the kind of piano playing for which he had been famous for well over a decade; the deftness of touch, the almost sleight of hand, as he beguiles the listener into making it sound all too easy. Peterson talks through the piano and at his best he makes the piano sing. Just listen to 'Georgia on My Mind' who needs a vocal? While Peterson has at times, unfairly, been called an unemotional pianist, that is not a criticism that can be leveled at Night Train. It is a beautifully recorded album that makes the piano, long-time Peterson trio bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen sound as though they are in the room. Despite having sold Verve to MGM two years earlier, Norman Granz produced this album as he was Oscar Peterson's manager; it is a fitting tribute to both performer and mentor.

Live archive release. For nearly 80 years, legacy has been the spinal cord of the glorious jazz tradition - but maybe never more so to it's fans than during these challenging days of the pandemic. Unable to hear music in person, all of us have only been able to access new music through technology, resulting in many looking back upon what may have been missed. But when one can look back on something that is at the same time entirely new, that is a most special situation. And when that something new is coming from jazz immortal Oscar Peterson - even more so. And that is exactly what is in hand with A Time for Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet - Live in Helsinki, 1987. From this perspective alone, this is a momentous album - but it is far more than that. The final gig of a long international tour that began with 4 concerts in Brazil, this date was the 14th of a European tour that took the quartet all over mainland Europe and Scandinavia. Anyone with any knowledge of jazz knows that the magic of consistent performing only makes the synergy and empathy of an ensemble - both substances this quartet has in mind-blowing quantity - better and better. That always dwarfs the fatigue factor, and sometimes results in sheer magic on a different plane. That's clearly what happened during this spectacular concert. As Kelly Peterson says: "Performing with joy and vivacity, they determined to make every concert better than the previous one. This night in Helsinki is a glorious example of that" - and a stunning addition to the continuing legacy of this beloved master of music.

Ralph Peterson is one of the great drummers of our time. He possesses the power of Art Blakey and the creativity and swing of the late Tony Williams. This burning album has Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Jimmy Greene on tenor saxophone, the great Orrin Evans on piano, and Eric Revis on bass. This is Ralph's second outing as a leader on Criss Cross.