Though Roy Eldridge and Oscar Peterson are both known mostly for their collaborations with other high profile artists (both members of the Count Basie's band at one point and sidemen for Ella Fitzgerald), they also enjoyed a fruitful partnership that culminated in the 1974 album, Oscar Peterson and Roy Eldridge, which is a well-regarded document amongst jazz aficionados. Here, we see a meeting between the two from 1963, in Paris, at the famous Olympia venue. To a French audience weaned on jazz in the post-war years, this would have been billed as a meeting between greats of the swing era, combining for a masterful, freewheeling set.
And that is exactly what they deliver – two young veterans breathing new vitality into old classics like "Green Dolphin Street" and the Gershwin's "I've Got a Crush On You." They are joined by another master, the versatile double bassist Ray Brown (who also played with Ella Fitzgerald as well as Steely Dan, vibraphonist Milt Jackson and many more) and seasoned sideman Ed Thigpen on the drums. Peterson's signature right hand leads the swing while his left weaves mood and personality into a base from which Eldridge also springs, offering sumptuous and rich sequences on the trumpet that carry extraordinary depth of emotion.
