A beautiful meeting of two mid-century musical talents – the piano of
Oscar Peterson and the arrangements of
Nelson Riddle – a surprisingly wonderful pairing, heard here on a rare set for Verve!
Peterson never recorded with strings nearly as much as he did with a trio, but almost all of his dates in the format are wonderful – and this album may well be one of the best!
Riddle's nicely restrained here – using that new sense of space he was finding in the 60s, and moving a bit away from more sentimental modes of the 50s, into some laidback jazzy charts that are really great.
Peterson's piano steps through the arrangements wonderfully – never trying to dominate, and instead really going with the flow that
Riddle provides. There's a mature sound to this record that really points the way towards some of the later Verve and CTI orchestrations of the 60s – proof that
Riddle could have a huge influence on styles to come – and titles include "Judy", "My Ship", "Nightingale", "A Sleeping Bee", "Goodbye", "Portrait Of Jenny", "Come Sunday", "Round Midnight", and "My Foolish Heart".