Exclusively for My Friends

Exclusively for My Friends is a series of originally six albums for the MPS label by Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The album tracks were recorded live by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for MPS on the occasion of private concerts with a small audience in his home studio. The albums have been collected in different box sets over the years.

Exclusively for My Friends
Box set by
Released1992
Recorded1963–1968
GenreJazz
Length243:30
LabelMPS, Verve
ProducerHans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Recording and release

Recording took place in six separate sessions between 1963 and 1968 in different trio settings as well as with Peterson playing solo. The recordings include performances with his most well-known trio consisting of double bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen and also teams him with bassist Sam Jones and drummers Louis Hayes or Bobby Durham. While around 60 tracks were recorded, only 37 were initially released in five trio albums and one solo album, the first in Peterson's career. The titles on each album were often selected from different recording sessions. Peterson was personally involved in selecting and editing the tapes.[2] Due to contractual reasons, the albums were not released before 1968.

In 1992, the series was re-released as a four CD box set by MPS (and by Verve in the US) which included all recordings of the six original albums. In 1995, the release of the compilation Exclusively for My Friends: The Lost Tapes added twelve previously unreleased tracks to the collection. The constituent albums were also available as individual CDs.[3]

MPS released remastered versions of the original albums as a six LP box set in 2014. One year later, an eight CD box set followed that collected the six albums plus two volumes of Lost Tapes, adding another ten tracks to the overall release group which were personally selected by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for release shortly before his death in 2004.[4]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz includes the albums in its "Core Collection".[3]

Original album series

The Lost Tapes

Track listings

For the original track listings see the individual album articles above.

Four CD Box (1992)

CDs 1-3 collect Vol. 1-4 and 6 mostly in the original running order, while CD 4 matches Vol. 4, which contains the solo recordings.

CD 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Robbins Nest"Illinois Jacquet, Bob Russell, Sir Charles Thompson6:16
2."Medley: I Concentrate on You/Moon River"Porter/Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer6:24
3."Medley: Waltzing Is Hip/Satin Doll"Ray Brown, Johnny Mercer/Duke Ellington, Mercer16:02
4."Our Love Is Here to Stay"G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin4:45
5."Sandy's Blues"Oscar Peterson9:26
6."Alice in Wonderland"Sammy Fain, Bob Hilliard4:41
7."Noreen's Nocturne"Peterson5:15
8."In a Mellow Tone"Ellington, Milt Gabler5:58
9."Nica's Dream"Horace Silver7:46
CD 4
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Someone to Watch over Me"G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin4:10
2."Perdido"Ervin Drake, Hans J. Lengsfelder, Juan Tizol6:10
3."Body and Soul"Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green4:28
4."Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)"Bricusse, Newley4:53
5."Bye Bye Blackbird"Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson4:50
6."I Should Care"Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston4:42
7."Lulu's Back in Town"Al Dubin, Harry Warren2:00
8."Little Girl Blue"Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers6:02
9."Take the "A" Train"Billy Strayhorn2:37

Eight CD Box Set (2015)

Track listings for CDs 1-7 like the original releases (see above).

CD 8 - The Lost Tapes 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Autumn Leaves"Jacques Prevert, Johnny Mercer, Joseph Kosma5:10
2."The Folks Who Live On The Hill"Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein8:31
3."Body and Soul"Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, John W. Green, Robert Sour5:13
4."Misty"Erroll Garner, Johnny Burke8:28
5."Hymn to Freedom"Hariette Hamilton, Oscar Peterson7:37
6."Goodbye"Gordon Jerkins6:43
7."Li'l Darlin'"Nei Hefti9:43
8."Satin Doll"Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellngton, Johnny Mercer7:49
9."All Of Me"Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons6:33
10."A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening"Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh3:33

Personnel

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. Lees, Gene (2015). Exclusively for My Friends (Booklet). Oscar Peterson. MPS Records. p. 31.
  3. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 1153. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.
  4. "The Lost Tapes 2". Exclusively for My Friends (Liner Notes). Oscar Peterson. MPS Records. 2015.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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