LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

When virtuosos with the technical gifts of Buddy DeFranco, Oscar Peterson, and Joe Pass get together, it might be legitimate to worry that their notes will collide. A part of true jazz virtuosity, however, is in accommodating one’s colleagues; being there when needed but not walking on their lines, as it were. Great accompanists, Peterson and Pass provide DeFranco settings that enrich and stimulate the great clarinetist but never interfere with his astonishing flights of bebop fancy. This is true even on the amazing counterpoint section of “Summer Me, Winter Me.” With swing experts of the stature of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Martin Drew on board, DeFranco was further assured of perfect support. He could also count having good things to listen to when he was not playing. Pass and Peterson were in rare form, even for them. NHØP’s bass lines alone are worth several hearings.All Too Soon; Summer Me, Winter Me; Llovisna (Light Rain), By Myself, Joy Spring, This Is All I Ask, Hark, Why Am I with Joe Pass, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Martin Drew