Wintertijd

Bertje, that's Jazz IX

I had never heard of Clark Terry until I picked up this Oscar Peterson Trio CD. Oscar Peterson being one of my all time favorite artists in Jazz, I just decided to check it out, not knowing anything about it. But if you dig a little deeper into Clark Terry's career, you'll see an amazing list of jazz musicians scroll by who worked with the man. Anyone from Basie to Ella to Peterson, Quincy Jones and Sir Duke have recorded music with the man.

Furthermore, the album The Oscar Peterson Trio + One Clark Terry is interesting because Terry is doing some pioneering work on an instrument that you simply don't hear in many Jazz solos. The Flugelhorn. I first thought it was a muted trumpet, but it's a horn. Terry does play the trumpet too, hell, he even wrote the book on circular breathing for several wind instruments, but here he chose to record the entire session on Flugelhorn.

The track I've chosen from the album is one that everyone knows, whether they know it or not. Written, originally as Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht for "die Dreigroschenoper", Mack the Knife has been played by too many people to even mention. Nor just Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra, but unexpected artists like The Divine Comedy, the Doors and Nick Cave have done versions of it.

Since the song has always fascinated me, I own many versions of it. Ella, Satchmo, Ellington, Robbie Williams, Ol' blue eyes, you name 'm, they are somewhere in my collection. It's almost like the fascination I have for Mr Bojangles versions. Perhaps the most interesting version in my possession is a Lotte Lenya recording from the 30's in German, because in spirit I imagine it to be the closest to what the composer meant.

Some people have called it the best song ever written, others simply know it because it's been on the airwaves in one form or another for the better part of a century. However, since this is the only flugelhorn version I know in existence, and since I feel that more of Oscar Peterson's groove in my compilation could never ever hurt, I chose this one. Enjoy Mack the Knife by The Oscar Peterson Trio + One Clark Terry.

Posted by Chris at May 6, 2007 12:28 AM