The Trio
Case in point, the liner notes by Benny Green on the back of the album titled “The Trio”, Oscar Peterson, Niels Pedersen, and Joe Pass.
Ever wonder what Oscar Peterson, Achilles and Pre-Raphaelite landscapes have in common? Read these liner notes and find out.
He starts off talking about the influence of Art Tatum on Oscar Peterson, fair enough:
“One of the great glories of Tatum’s playing was its stylistic generosity”
I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but Mr. Green, as always, elaborates:
“the way in which the rhythmic ebullience of the Stride pianists would flicker over the same landscape which a few bars before had been lit by the arabesques of a style unique to Tatum,”
Huh? Now I am really confused, but there was further meat to chew:
“how the complexities of a questing virtuoso mind would suddenly resolve themselves into the simpler candours of an ancient tradition.”
This was some wild writing, but there were many more insights to follow. The most memorable of which would have to be:
“The bravura passage in ‘Blues Etude’ stands an an example of the heights which jazz can climb to, executed at blinding speed and yet with the tiniest detail endowed with the clarity of a distant leaf in a Pre-Raphailite landscape.”
and
“Tatum’s style may be compared to the armour of Achilles”
How, you might ask, can Tatum’s style be compared to the armour of an ancient Greek hero who died 3000 years before Tatum and Jazz came into existence? Have no fear, Mr. Green explains even that, but I don’t want to ruin all of the surprise by telling you.
If feel Mr. Green’s entire note could have been summed up thusly:
“This is some highbrow shit.”
Comments: