Consumer Guide Album

Louis Armstrong: Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson [Verve, 1997]
Piano virtuoso Peterson has always seemed a tad light-fingered to me, which I expect is one reason many jazz specialists consider him the nearest thing to Art Tatum God bequeathed mankind. Without question a virtuoso, he was Norman Granz's go-to bandleader cum de facto producer at Verve. So in a sense this circa-1957 showcase highlights both of the artists with their names on the cover, and while I remain faithful to Armstrong's 16 Most Requested Songs on Columbia, this one has its own unmistakable identity, de-Satchmoizing its star attraction by making the most of his skills as a world-class pop interpreter--bringing out the Sinatra in him, if you will. With Peterson providing decisive accents and shading, this expanded reissue of a 1957 session honors the likes of "That Old Feeling," "You Go to My Head," and "Willow Weep for Me" as the indelible standards they are. Also for that reason, it saves Cole Porter for the waggish closer "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)," and I mean right down to "In shallow shoals English soles do it/Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it." A