Oscar Peterson - Quiet Now: Time & Again (2000)

Oscar Peterson has never been shy about his abilities to romp across a keyboard in decorous, generously swinging displays of flash. But Time and Again catches the Oscar that lulls you into classic sessions like Exclusively for My Friends and those where he tackles the song books of Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter. The 14 tracks that make up this anthology are all delicate, all gorgeous, all touched with a grace that precious few pianists can muster. The album comes with only the most skeletal details--track titles, albums of origin, tune titles. But it's meant to be streamlined, to turn the mind to the music, which, as part of Verve's Quiet Now series, is meant to be midnight-safe and mellow. In the case of Oscar, the collection is an embarrassment of musical riches, a chilled-out heartful that will ease the aches unrelentingly. --Andrew Bartlett