| Night Train | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by The Oscar Peterson Trio | ||||
| Released | 1963 | |||
| Recorded | December 15–16, 1962 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. The album includes jazz, blues and R&B standards, as well as "Hymn to Freedom," one of Peterson's best known original compositions.
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. [1]
The cover art photograph is by Pete Turner [2] 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. [3]
A Jazz.com review notes that the title track, "Night Train," is evidence of Peterson's ability to balance musical innovation with popular appeal, as demonstrated throughout the album: "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." [1]
Night Train’s only original Oscar Peterson composition, "Hymn to Freedom," was written on the spot in the studio to close the album, following Norman Granz’s suggestion that the band include a song with a "definitive early-blues feel." [4] Peterson named the new song "Hymn to Freedom" in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., and after Harriette Hamilton wrote accompanying lyrics a year later, it became an unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. [5] "Hymn to Freedom" is featured prominently in the 2023 documentary Oscar Peterson: Black + White as part of Peterson’s enduring legacy. [6]
On the 1997 CD reissue, an alternate take of "Night Train" is titled "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. [7]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [9] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [3] |
Writing for AllMusic, critic John Bush wrote the release "includes stately covers of blues and R&B standards". [11] The Penguin Guide to Jazz included it in its core collection, calling it “one of the best-constructed long-players of the period" [3] and saying that Peterson's playing is "tight and uncharacteristically emotional". [3]
In 2019, the album was named as the jury winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize. [12]
Diana Krall reported that listening to the album made being a jazz pianist her ambition. [1] Linda May Han Oh reported that listening to the album inspired her to start playing upright bass. [13]
| 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)
Technical personnel
Mitchell Herbert Ellis was an American jazz guitarist. During the 1950s, he was in a trio with pianist Oscar Peterson.
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 is a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet, released in October 1956. Having previously collaborated in the late 1940s for the Decca label, this was the first of three albums that Fitzgerald and Armstrong were to record together for Verve Records, later followed by 1957's Ella and Louis Again and 1959's Porgy and Bess.
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.
Night Child is an album by Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson, accompanied by Joe Pass, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Louie Bellson. It is notable in that all compositions are by Peterson and he plays the majority of the songs on electric piano. The album cover depicts his son Joel Peterson, to whom the album is dedicated.
Bird and Diz is a studio album by jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. It was recorded primarily on June 6, 1950, in New York City. Two tracks featured on the original pressing, "Passport" and "Visa", were recorded by Parker, without Gillespie and with different personnel than the other tracks, in March and May 1949. The album was originally issued in 1952 in 10" format as a collection of 78 rpm singles on the Verve subsidiary label Clef Records.
Yessir, That's My Baby is a 1978 album by Oscar Peterson and Count Basie.
Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson is a 1959 studio album by Louis Armstrong, accompanied by Oscar Peterson.
On the Town with the Oscar Peterson Trio is a live album by jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, released in 1958.
Oscar Peterson Plays Porgy & Bess is a 1959 studio album by Oscar Peterson, playing selections from George Gershwin's 1935 opera, Porgy and Bess.
The Astaire Story is a 1952 album by Fred Astaire. The album was conceived of and produced by Norman Granz, the founder of Clef Records, who was also responsible for the Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, at which all of the musicians on the album had performed.
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.
Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio is a 1958 studio album by Stan Getz, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Trio.
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.
Gerry Mulligan - Paul Desmond Quartet is a jazz album by Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan released in 1957 on the Verve label. The idea for this album was born in 1954, then postponed till summer of 1957 when Desmond suggested to record some pieces together. Producer Norman Granz managed to set up the recording date for the first session in August. Blues in Time was also reissued on Verve V 8478 with a different cover. The album is the first of two albums Mulligan and Desmond recorded in a pianoless quartet setting. The second, recorded in 1962, was Two of a Mind.
The Lionel Hampton Quintet is a 1954 album by Lionel Hampton accompanied by a quintet including clarinetist Buddy DeFranco.
