Night Train (Oscar Peterson album)

Night Train is an album by the Oscar Peterson Trio, released in 1963 by Verve Records. The album includes jazz, blues and R&B standards, as well as "Hymn to Freedom," one of Peterson's best known original compositions.

Background

Album producer Norman Granz had sold the record label Verve, but remained Peterson's manager, and so supervised the Night Train recording session. The brief duration of many of the tracks has been attributed to a desire to have them played on commercial radio, which was reluctant to play any tracks longer than a few minutes.

The cover art photograph is by Pete Turner and original sleeve notes were by Benny Green.

The album was dedicated to Peterson’s father, who worked as a sleeping-car attendant for Canadian Pacific Railways.

Music and recording

A Jazz.com review notes that the title track, "Night Train," is evidence of Peterson's ability to balance musical innovation with popular appeal, as demonstrated throughout the album: "By using the basic elements of crescendo and diminuendo, and arranged sections to set off the parts, Peterson turns what could have been a throwaway into a minor masterpiece."

Night Train’s only original Oscar Peterson composition, "Hymn to Freedom," was written on the spot in the studio to close the album, following Norman Granz’s suggestion that the band include a song with a "definitive early-blues feel." Peterson named the new song "Hymn to Freedom" in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., and after Harriette Hamilton wrote accompanying lyrics a year later, it became an unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. "Hymn to Freedom" is featured prominently in the 2023 documentary Oscar Peterson: Black + White as part of Peterson’s enduring legacy.

On the 1997 CD reissue, an alternate take of "Night Train" is titled "Happy Go Lucky Local," the name of the 1946 Duke Ellington composition that is the basis of Jimmy Forrest's "Night Train." The alternate take features the same arrangement as the master take.

Ed Thigpen's rivet cymbal, recorded at very close range, is prominent on all issues of the album.

Reception

Writing for AllMusic, critic John Bush wrote the release "includes stately covers of blues and R&B standards". The Penguin Guide to Jazz included it in its core collection, calling it “one of the best-constructed long-players of the period" and saying that Peterson's playing is "tight and uncharacteristically emotional".

In 2019, the album was named as the jury winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize.

Influence

Diana Krall reported that listening to the album made being a jazz pianist her ambition. Linda May Han Oh reported that listening to the album inspired her to start playing upright bass.

Track listing

(Tracks 12 through 17 are CD bonus tracks, not included on the original vinyl LP)

Personnel

• Oscar Peterson - piano
• Ray Brown - double bass
• Ed Thigpen - drums

Technical personnel

• Norman Granz – production
• Val Valentin – recording engineering
• Pete Turner – cover photography
• Benny Green - sleeve notes

References

Links

• Night Train at Discogs (list of releases)