| Night Train | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by The Oscar Peterson Trio | ||||
| Released | 1963 | |||
| Recorded | December 15 & 16, 1962 | |||
| Venue | Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 44:08 (original release) 67:40 (1997 CD re-release) | |||
| Label | Verve | |||
| Producer | Norman Granz | |||
| The Oscar Peterson Trio chronology | ||||
| ||||
Night Train is an album by the Oscar Peterson Trio, released in 1963 by Verve Records.
Album producer Norman Granz had sold the record label Verve, but remained Peterson's manager, and so supervised the Night Train recording session. The brief duration of many of the tracks has been attributed to a desire to have them played on commercial radio, which was reluctant to play any tracks longer than a few minutes.
The cover art photograph is by Pete Turner [1] and original sleeve notes were by Benny Green.
The album was dedicated to Peterson’s father, who worked as a sleeping-car attendant for Canadian Pacific Railways. [2]
On the title track,
After the opening theme choruses, Peterson slips into a 2-chorus solo. Then the theme returns, and we realize that all the while, the band has gotten softer and softer. This leads into Brown's solo, which is unaccompanied to start, and then adds, in turn, Peterson and Thigpen. When Peterson comes in for another chorus of solo, everything starts to build again. Peterson plays a boogie figure in the bass to build the intensity, and then the trio plays a simple but effective shout chorus and then goes back to the theme with a strong crescendo to nearly the end, with a traditional Count Basie tag to close the track. By using the basic elements of crescendo and diminuendo, and arranged sections to set off the parts, Peterson turns what could have been a throwaway into a minor masterpiece. [3]
On the 1997 CD reissue, an alternate take of "Night Train" carries the title "Happy Go Lucky Local," the name of the 1946 Duke Ellington composition that is the basis of Jimmy Forrest's "Night Train". The alternate take features the same arrangement as the master take.
Ed Thigpen's rivet cymbal, recorded at very close range, is prominent on all issues of the album. [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [6] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [2] |
Writing for AllMusic, critic John Bush wrote the release "includes stately covers of blues and R&B standards". [8] The Penguin Guide to Jazz included it in its core collection, calling it “one of the best-constructed long-players of the period" [2] and saying that Peterson's playing is "tight and uncharacteristically emotional". [2]
In 2019, the album was named as the jury winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize. [9]
Diana Krall reported that listening to the album made being a jazz pianist her ambition. [3] Linda May Han Oh reported that listening to the album inspired her to start playing upright bass. [10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Night Train" | Jimmy Forrest, Lewis P. Simpkins, Oscar Washington | 4:52 |
| 2. | "C Jam Blues" | Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington | 3:26 |
| 3. | "Georgia on My Mind" | Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell | 3:46 |
| 4. | "Bags' Groove" | Milt Jackson | 5:43 |
| 5. | "Moten Swing" | Bennie Moten | 2:55 |
| 6. | "Easy Does It" | Sy Oliver, Trummy Young | 2:45 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7. | "Honey Dripper" | Joe Liggins | 2:24 |
| 8. | "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" | Mercer Ellington, Ted Persons | 4:38 |
| 9. | "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" | Duke Ellington, Paul Francis Webster | 5:08 |
| 10. | "Band Call" | Duke Ellington | 3:55 |
| 11. | "Hymn to Freedom" | Oscar Peterson | 5:38 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Happy Go Lucky Local (A.K.A. Night Train) (alternate take)" | Duke Ellington | 5:00 |
| 13. | "Volare" | Franco Migliacci, Domenico Modugno, Mitchell Parish | 2:49 |
| 14. | "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" | Cole Porter | 3:57 |
| 15. | "Moten Swing (rehearsal take)" | Bennie Moten | 3:36 |
| 16. | "Now's the Time" | Charlie Parker | 2:36 |
| 17. | "This Could Be the Start of Something" | Steve Allen | 5:11 |
(Tracks 12 through 17 are CD bonus tracks, not included on the original vinyl LP)
Mitchell Herbert Ellis was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson.
Edmund Leonard Thigpen was an American jazz drummer, best known for his work with the Oscar Peterson trio from 1959 to 1965. Thigpen also performed with the Billy Taylor trio from 1956 to 1959.
At the Opera House is a 1958 live album by Ella Fitzgerald. The album presents a recording of the 1957 Jazz at the Philharmonic Concerts. This series of live jazz concerts was devised by Fitzgerald's manager Norman Granz; they ran from 1944 to 1983. Featured on this occasion, in 1957, are Fitzgerald and the leading jazz players of the day in an onstage jam session. The first half of the 1990 CD edition includes a performance that was recorded on September 29, 1957, at the Chicago Opera House, whilst the second half highlights the concert recorded on October 7, 1957, at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles. The original LP obviously included only the mono tracks (#10-18).
Ella Returns to Berlin is a 1961 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a trio led by the pianist Lou Levy, and also featuring the Oscar Peterson trio.
Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert is a live album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a jazz trio led by Lou Levy, and also featuring the Oscar Peterson trio. Recorded in 1958, it was released thirty years later.
Ella and Louis Again is a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, released in 1957 on Verve Records. It is the sequel to their 1956 album, Ella and Louis. In contrast to their previous collaboration, this album features seven solo vocal tracks by either Armstrong or Fitzgerald amongst its dozen duet tracks. It was reissued as part of a two-compact disc set in 1995, and in The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve in 1997. It was recorded at Radio Recorders and Capitol Studios, Hollywood.
Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson is a 1960 studio album featuring a jazz trio, led by the Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, with the tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.
Oscar Peterson Trio + One is a 1964 album by Oscar Peterson, featuring Clark Terry.
Jazz at Santa Monica '72 is a 1972 live album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium accompanied by a jazz trio led by the pianist Tommy Flanagan, and the Count Basie Orchestra.
Exclusively for My Friends is a series of originally six albums for the MPS label by Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The album tracks were recorded live by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for MPS on the occasion of private concerts with a small audience in his home studio. The albums have been collected in different box sets over the years.
On the Town with the Oscar Peterson Trio is a live album by jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, released in 1958.
The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume Eight is an album by pianist Art Tatum and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, with Red Callender on double bass and Bill Douglass on drums. The 1956 session was originally released in 1958 on Verve Records album produced by Norman Granz as The Art Tatum - Ben Webster Quartet, but Granz re-acquired the masters in the 1970s after the album was allowed to go out of print. He reissued the material as one of a series of eight Group Masterpieces featuring Tatum in collaboration with other artists, also issuing it as part of a boxed set, The Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces. The album has been reissued on CD, including a January 31, 1992 version with bonus tracks.
Jazz Giants '58 is a 1958 album produced by Norman Granz featuring Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Harry "Sweets" Edison, accompanied by Louis Bellson and the Oscar Peterson trio.
Something Warm is a live album by the Oscar Peterson Trio, recorded at the London House jazz club in Chicago. The sessions were in 1961, but the album was initially released as Verve V/V6-8681 in 1967.
Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio is a 1958 studio album by Stan Getz, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Trio.
The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson is a 1959 album by the Oscar Peterson Trio, described by AllMusic as "a swinging, straight-ahead affair featuring superb playing throughout."
Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio is a 1954 studio album by Lester Young, accompanied by Oscar Peterson's working trio of the time, plus drummer J. C. Heard. The music on this album was originally released as three separate albums: Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio #1 and Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio #2, both released in June 1954, and The President. It was collated for this 1997 reissue by Verve Records.
Krupa and Rich is a 1956 studio album by jazz drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, released on Norman Granz' Clef Records. Krupa and Rich play on two different tracks each and play together only on "Bernie's Tune." Krupa and Rich would record again for Verve Records; their album Burnin' Beat was released in 1962.
The Lionel Hampton Quintet is a 1954 album by Lionel Hampton accompanied by a quintet including clarinetist Buddy DeFranco.
King of the Tenors is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster featuring tracks recorded in 1953 for the Norgran label and originally released as The Consummate Artistry of Ben Webster. The album was re-issued in 1957 on Verve Records as King of the Tenors, and has been released with that title ever since. Webster is accompanied by The Oscar Peterson Trio, and, on several tracks, by Benny Carter and Harry "Sweets" Edison.
