Oscar Peterson & Fred Astaire: Complete Norman Granz Sessions

Oscar Peterson & Fred Astaire: Complete Norman Granz Sessions Artist: Oscar Peterson , and Fred Astaire
Label: Jazz Factory Spain
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2
EAN: 8436006498770
ASIN: B00076SFX6


Release Date: 2005-01-06

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Tracks:

  1. Isn't This a Lovely Day
  2. Puttin' on the Ritz
  3. I Used to Be Color Blind
  4. Continental
  5. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
  6. Change Partners
  7. 'S Wonderful
  8. Lovely to Look At
  9. They All Laughed
  10. Cheek to Cheek
  11. Steppin' Out with My Baby
  12. Way You Look Tonight
  13. I've Got My Eyes on You
  14. Dancing in the Dark
  15. Carioca
  16. Nice Work If You Can Get It
  17. New Sun in the Sky
  18. I Won't Dance
  19. Fast Dances [Instrumental]
  20. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
  21. No Strings
  22. I Concentrate on You
  23. I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket

Tracks:

  1. Fine Romance
  2. Night and Day
  3. Fascinating Rhythm
  4. I Love Louisa
  5. Slow Dances [Instrumental]
  6. Medium Dance [Instrumental]
  7. They Can't Take That Away from Me
  8. You're Easy to Dance With
  9. Needle in a Haystack
  10. So Near and Yet So Far Away
  11. Foggy Day
  12. Oh, Lady Be Good
  13. I'm Building Up to an Awful Letdown
  14. Not My Girl
  15. Jam Session for a Dancer [Instrumental]
  16. Astaire Blues [Instrumental]
  17. Second Astaire Blues [Instrumental]

Similar Items:

  1. The Irving Berlin Songbook
  2. The Complete London Sessions
  3. Steppin' Out: Astaire Sings
  4. Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers At RKO: Motion Picture Soundtrack Anthology
  5. Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson (20-Bit Master)

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars S'Marvelous.......2005-09-22

Finally, Fred Astaire's 1952 recordings with Oscar Peterson and Jazz at the Philharmonic are back in print. One wonders why Verve has ever let these go out of their catalogue and why a Spanish record company are the currently the only people with the good sense to issue these--but it is probably a better idea just to buy the album.

Astaire may not have had a voice for the ages, but the man certainly knew his way around a lyric. He imbues these classic numbers with an honest sensitivity and panache that often make these chesnuts sound completely brand-new. (Which makes sense, given the number that were originally for him.) The small jazz combo backing was something unique in Astaire's recording career: gone are the deliciously overblown Hollywood orchestrations, replaced with Oscar Peterson's elegant piano playing and some inspired solos by the two horns, Charlie Shavers and Flip Phillips.

All the tracks on this album are stellar, but the four standouts (in my mind) are "Puttin' on the Ritz," "Dancing in the Dark," "Night and Day," and "Lady Be Good": on these, the interaction between Astaire and combo creates some of the most inspired readings of these numbers ever. This album also demonstrates Astaire's absolute genius as a dancer: lots of people have sung the blues extremely well, but who else could actually manage to tap-dance a blues and convey the same passion as Bessie Smith or Jimmy Rushing without singing a single note?

The one minor caveat a listener might have with this album is that the remastering job seems to be uneven: some tracks have a pretty silent background, while there is audible tape hiss on others. This may be a problem with the source material, since the tracks on Verve's domestic compilations like "Fred Astaire's Finest Hour" suffer the same problems.

Still, this album should be on the CD rack of every person who has even a passing interest in the repertory of American songs. Astaire was the best thing ever to happen to the musical film, and he's still one of the best thing ever to happen to the record industry. This is, quite simply, great stuff.

Music CD:

  1. Let's Dance : The Best Of Ballroom Swing, Lindy, Jitterbug & Jive ~ Various Artists
  2. Speak of the Devil ~ John Abercrombie, Dan Wall, Adam Nussbaum
  3. For the Love of You ~ Candy Dulfer
  4. Light as a Feather ~ Chick Corea, Return to Forever
  5. Angel ~ Paolo Fresu Quartet
  6. The Last Farewell ~ Shapes
  7. Midnight ~ Jeff Lorber
  8. Anthology: You've Got to Have Freedom ~ Pharoah Sanders
  9. Hanukkah Swings! ~ Kenny Ellis
  10. Unforgettably Doc ~ Doc Severinsen

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Up in Flames ~ Manitoba

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Meteors Live 1 & 2 ~ Meteors

Throwdown Live 2002 ~ Mars Mushrooms

Anthology 1967-91

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Beaner Go Home Ep ~ Aztlan Nation