The Oscar Peterson Trio - Canadiana Suite (1982 Japanese Limelight Vinyl LP)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None. No insert.

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The Oscar Peterson Trio - Canadiana Suite | Vinyl LP - 1982 Japanese Limelight Reissue (EXPR-1027, Nippon Phonogram / JVC)

Peterson had been writing tunes for years, but Canadiana Suite was the first time he committed to a full album of original compositions. Recorded in a single session on September 9, 1964, in New York, the suite traces a journey across Canada from the Maritime provinces to the Rockies, each piece named for a place on the route. "Ballad to the East" opens with the quiet melody of the Atlantic coast. "Laurentide Waltz" moves through the mountains of southern Quebec. "Place St. Henri" is Montreal, Peterson's hometown, and the trio plays it with a quick, light touch that suggests city streets rather than concert stages. "Hogtown Blues" is Toronto, exactly what the name promises. Side B heads west: "Blues of the Prairies" and "Wheatland" for Manitoba and Saskatchewan, "March Past" for Calgary, and "Land of the Misty Giants" for the coastal ranges of British Columbia. The inspiration came from train travel. Peterson had crossed the country by rail repeatedly and wanted to put those landscapes into music in the way Duke Ellington had done with his own regional suites.

What sets this album apart in the Peterson catalogue is how little showing off there is. Brown and Thigpen were the trio that Peterson kept together from 1959 through to the mid-1960s, and by this point they could read each other without signalling. The interplay is conversational rather than competitive, and Peterson's touch throughout is lighter and more lyrical than on the Verve recordings that made his reputation. Gene Lees, the Canadian-born journalist and future Peterson biographer, wrote the liner notes, calling the suite a portrait of the country Peterson never stopped identifying with despite decades of touring the world. This was one of the last studio recordings by the Peterson/Brown/Thigpen trio, and one of the first albums Peterson made for Limelight after his Verve contract expired in 1964. This is a 1982 Japanese reissue on EXPR-1027, part of the Limelight Original Jazz Classics series, manufactured by Nippon Phonogram Co., Ltd. and pressed by Victor Company of Japan. The insert is missing.