Royal Garden Blues – 1974

Count Basie and Oscar Peterson

Peterson and Basie keep each other smiling during this swinging performance

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In the 1970s, Oscar Peterson and Count Basie recorded several studio albums together that displayed a lot of common ground between their very different but equally swinging approaches.

While Peterson could fill a universe with notes, Basie made every perfectly-placed sound count.

They rarely performed together before an audience, which makes this performance (with bassist Niels Pedersen and drummer Bobby Durham) particularly special.

On “Royal Garden Blues,” Basie is quite good-humored during his all-too-brief encounter with Peterson.

-Scott Yanow

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