On his Telarc disc,
Ray Brown teams up with five different piano players but, rather than this being a tribute to the veteran bassist (who has solo space on every selection), the CD ends up being a celebration of the great
Oscar Peterson because
Benny Green,
Dado Moroni, and
Geoff Keezer have, to various degrees, based their styles on
Peterson's, but the indivual standout is actually
Ahmad Jamal, who had never previously recorded with
Brown. Together with
Lewis Nash they perform two blues and "Love Walked In," all renditions that make a liberal use of space and pay close attention to dynamics.
Benny Green, who plays his "Ray of Light" along with two standards, had performed regularly with
Brown in recent years and his selections offer few surprises.
Dodo Moroni is fine on "My Romance" and inserts a bit of
Erroll Garner on "Giant Steps," while
Geoff Keezer (who had also never played with
Brown) swings well on "Close Your Eyes." The CD concludes with a reunion between
Oscar Peterson (who had recently recovered from a stroke) and
Brown on "St. Tropez" and the upbeat "How Come You Do Me like You Do?" The results overall are pleasing and swinging (serving as a sampler of the pianists' styles), but not all that innovative. ~ Scott Yanow