On The Sublime - Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson

July 18, 2012 9:16 AM

Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson - You Go To My Head

Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson - How Long Has This Been Going On ?

Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson - I Get A Kick Out of You

Three songs from one of the most sublime sessions ever recorded...

plus three more - one from the session mentioned above, two more from two others, all equally sublime...:

Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson - Willow Weep For Me

Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson - These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald - The Nearness of You

posted by y2karl (14 comments total)

Oscar Peterson is a god among men. Thanks, y2karl.
posted by koeselitz at 9:22 AM on July 18, 2012

All these songs -- in these versions -- have been going through my head of late. Hence this post.
posted by y2karl at 9:23 AM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sigh.
posted by uraniumwilly at 9:29 AM on July 18, 2012

Excellent.... Thanks.
posted by HuronBob at 9:30 AM on July 18, 2012

How Long Has This Been Going On was not going on long enough.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:33 AM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Peterson plays one of the most elegant jazz pianos I can think of, and his mastery never ceases to take my breath away. Thank you for this!
posted by smirkette at 9:36 AM on July 18, 2012

Nice!
posted by OmieWise at 9:45 AM on July 18, 2012

What on earth is going on with that picture in the "How Long.." youtube?

not going on long enough
Much respect for the version posted (despite the weird photo manipulation) but here's my favorite rendition, by Brad Mehldau [9m]...
posted by obscurator at 9:46 AM on July 18, 2012

You know, there are a lot of great jazz bassists in the history of the form. I love 'em all. But in my opinion you just cannot beat Ray Brown.

There's a great video of Oscar Peterson with Ray Brown *and* his replacement bassist in the trio, Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen (aka NHOP), trading off choruses at Montreaux in 1977. NHOP is super, playing in a much more modern style than Ray, and he looks so cool doing it.

But Ray's solo is so melodic and has such a great tone! NHOP can out-flash him but Ray wins the soul trophy.
posted by bgribble at 10:07 AM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love Louis Armstrong. The person. Can't stand his singing. Which is too bad because he belongs in the pantheon with other greats of humanity (Ghandi, Mandella, Shakespeare, Einstein et al.)

Armstrong invented the concept of cool. The world had no coolness prior to him. You can draw a direct line between Armstrong and Fonzie. So maybe that doesn't work in his favour, regardless. He was an outstanding person. And Oscar Peterson is no slouch either.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:46 AM on July 18, 2012

Louis Armstrong is one of the greatest of all American singers. He is the most subtle of singers, a fountainhead in terms of influence and no one can read a lyric for feeling as he could. I am by no means alone in this opinion, either. So, on this matter, I am very sorry for your loss.
posted by y2karl at 12:20 PM on July 18, 2012

Perfect. How did you know I needed to listen to this just now?
posted by caddis at 2:10 PM on July 18, 2012

These were all posted for the music, not the videos, such as they might be. And, for a fact, I did not stick around to see what they were. I just went from the thumbnails and picked what seemed most inoffensive. My connection is so slow, I never stick around for them to actually load and play.

Maybe I need to post a Kickstarter to get me a smartphone or a tablet or something. Then, I could have a major timesuck of a different magnitude...
posted by y2karl at 2:26 PM on July 18, 2012

When I was about 12, a friend's dad gave me a cassette of Oscar Peterson's "Night Train" and said "Listen to that". I remember sitting at the top of our stairs (of all places), listening to the tape over and over, and feeling the sensation of swing lifting me for the first time in my life. The joy has never left me. I can't tell if I wouldn't have discovered the world of jazz without this moment, but Peterson made it so easy to fall in love with it.

Thanks for the well chosen sample, and the post. Great reminder of who started it all, for me.
posted by falcon at 12:53 AM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]