Buddy DeFranco & Oscar Peterson Play The George Gershwin

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Classic mid 50s jazz takes on Gershwin! As the title indicates, the session features Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson – but the real guy we wanna thank here is arranger Russ Garcia! Unlike some of the other Verve "soloist with the Peterson Trio" albums of the 50s, this one is more of a shared effort that has Buddy and Oscar both acting as soloists over larger backings directed by Garcia. Russ takes a lot of cues from Ralph Burns on the session – and like Burns on earlier Verve recordings, he sets things up so that the orchestrations never overwhelm the players – and instead simply augment their moods and shade in the colors of the tunes. We especially like Peterson in this format – as he was so often recorded heavily in trio format – but DeFranco is great too, snaking out over the top of the strings with a lean and angular tone on clarinet. Players include Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Bobby White, augmented by wind & strings. Titles include "S Wonderful", "Strike Up The Band", "I Wants To Stay Here", "Someone To Watch Over Me", "I Was Doing All Right", "I Got Rhythm", "The Man I Love", and "It Ain't Necessarily So". CD features 2 bonus tracks: alternate, slightly longer takes of "I Want To Stay Here" and "Someone To Watch Over Me".  © 1996-2023, Dusty Groove, Inc.
(Out of print Verve Elite edition.)