Tony Overwater - Op (2000) [Hi-Res+SACD]

Tony Overwater’s personal & contemporary tribute to both Oscar Pettiford’s playing & compositions ring true on this outstanding CD. “I realised one of my dreams with this recording” states Overwater “Ever since I heard his music, I wanted to record the music of Oscar Pettiford. It was in my 1st year at the Royal conservatory in The Hague that 1 of my teachers told me I sounded a bit like OP & that I should listen to his music. I was sure he either meant Oscar Peterson or Niels-Henning Pedersen. I had never heard of Pettiford.
As soon as I started exploring his records I was hooked. Pettiford’s music has a charm that lays somewhere between bebop, blues & chamber music. His lines & melodies are clear & transparent & his solos are a sort of abstract construction with the intensity & colourfulness of the blues.” “Tricotism” is an impossible composition in D flat major, next to G major the key OP mostly wrote in, & very difficult for a bass player because it doesn’t leave the player any note on an open string. This makes the notes sound brisk & firm. Pettiford’s combination of melancholy & realism is what I love,” says Overwater. “It is understated passion. His style was quite unique, straight on the beat with a clear attack, an articulate, frank tone with superior phrasing.” Oscar’s music lives on with Tony Overwater’s tribute. “What was it the American Indians said? Oscar’s spirit lives on in Tony’s form.”