I'd love you hear what was cooking besides the beatles, dylan and motown.

Every so often an Easy Listening album would emerge that married tranquility with the brilliance of jazz arranging and playing. Fine examples in the 1950s included the Capitol releases of Bobby Hackett and Nat King Cole, and many of the unintentionally mainstream recordings by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.

In 1963, Oscar Peterson and Nelson Riddle also accomplished this feat. Though the pair didn't set out to create an Easy Listening LP, Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle certainly qualifies, and the result is magnificent. Mind you, this recording shouldn't be misjudged as an “Oscar with strings" date. It's a joining of two musical giants on a single, easy-going concept that gives each artist room to shine. No matter how many times I listen to the CD, I hear something different, especially with regard to the tender interactions between Peterson's piano and Riddle's supportive orchestrations.

Let me quote from Peter Levinson's September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle:

“The idea for Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle was conceived when Nelson came in one night to see the [Oscar Peterson] Trio perform at the London House [in Chicago] while he was on a Reprise Records promotion tour. He and Peterson discussed how their admiration for one another's work could result in the kind of album which would coordinate both of their musical concepts. Nelson believed that Peterson's pianistics could be presented in a setting not too far afield from the old Claude Thornhill band."

For the album, Nelson gave half the song's tracks a symphonic setting of 10 celli, 5 French horns, 5 flutes, a percussionist and a harpist. The balance of the album featured a swinging band with strings.

Writes Riddle in Arranged by Nelson Riddle:

“I used both the horns and flutes, and the horns and celli in my own instrumental albums... These combinations were very effective as a cushion for [Oscar's] remarkable piano sound, and we were both quite pleased with the results."

Rosemary Acerra, Riddle's daughter, recalls her father working on the album and talking about it during their drives along California's Pacific Coast Highway in 1963:

“I've always loved this album, and I know Dad truly enjoyed working directly with Oscar. We lived in Malibu at the time, and he used to drive me to high school on Sunset Blvd. on his way to the studio. I knew this album was something more intriguing to him than just feverishly pushing arrangements for vocalists or throwing together TV music. This album punctuated a very feverish time for him, and Dad truly respected Oscar as a wonderful musician."

The recording plays like a concept album in that you will find yourself listening to it from start to finish rather than jumping in on individual songs. 'Round Midnight is probably my favorite track. Given the vast number of dramatic interpretations of this Thelonious Monk classic over the years, hearing Peterson's keyboard runs with Riddle's yearning arrangement as a backdrop is gripping. And the inclusion of Gordon Jenkins' Goodbye on the album also made me realize for the first time that there are stark similarities between the song and 'Round Midnight.

Someday My Prince Will Come also offers a fine juxtaposition between Peterson's galloping keyboard style and Riddle's ever-shifting chart.

In Arranged by Nelson Riddle, Riddle says his own favorite was My Ship:

“[It] was played more slowly than most people would consider tasteful, but to my way of thinking, permitted Oscar to weave a spell the likes of which I've seldom heard even from him!"

In some respects, the recording has the musical personality of a Frank Sinatra ballad album thanks in large measure to Riddle's signature style. But instead of Sinatra's voice in front of Riddle, we hear Peterson on piano, performing instrumentally like a vocalist.

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - S/T

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman play standards with Coltrane on tenor sax and Hartman on vocals. This is really great. Hartman is my favorite jazz vocalist and I listen to this more than any other Coltrane album.

Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle

1963 was hardly about albums. it was am radio and some of the best singles ever including be my baby by the ronettes. not to mention allan sherman's hello muddah, hello faddah. just sayin'.