Oscar Peterson – How High The Moon (1998)

"And a blues CD on the Hallmark label, that's sure to be good"

Or in this case, a jazz CD on the Hallmark label - a UK company specialising in budget, out of copyright, uncredited music. So all I know of this collection of mostly live recordings is titles and composers, and the assumption that the ivories are being tinkled by Canadian jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson.

My first encounter with Peterson was on TV in the 1970s introducing a clip of Keith Emerson playing boogie woogie piano while rotating through 360 degrees, and I've had a soft spot for him since.

To be fair, the sound quality isn't awful, the playing is very good, and it's a solid, unchallenging background listen to jazz standards. The highlight is a long jam session, presumably with Duke Ellington band (since the writing credit is Ellington), but there's a lot of listenable standards, including Swinging On A Star, Heatwave, and Falling In Love With Love.

I had intended to be sneering and cynical about this royalty free bargain, but I've quite enjoyed it, as a blast from the pre-Miles jazz era.

3* - a pleasant selection of Peterson's piano work, but some detail would be nice