Continuing from yesterday’s jazz ode to freedom by Billy Taylor, with a version by Nina Simone, let’s move onto another piano great, and an instrumental number from 1963 that definitely echoes it. Canadian Peterson, here accompanied by Ray Brown on and Ed Thigpen in bass, is one of the most admired pianists in the jazz world, a true giant who played with all the other greats and more and was hailed by Duke Ellington as the “Maharaja of the keyboard". His interpretations of songs, his ability to extemporise, his fingers travelling up and down the keyboard expressing infinite jest and invention, is quite unlike any other pianist. Hymn to Freedom is certainly wonderful piece, but, although credited to Peterson, seems almost certainly influenced by Taylor’s number written 10 years earlier, not merely with a nod to the tune, but also the title. As a hymn, however, it uses suspended chords and natural resolutions to bring a church feel to the tune, in between the passages of clever ingenuity, offering an intriguing variant on the usual, faster jazz style. Let’s enjoy him playing it live in 1964.
Want to suggest songs for Song of the Day or to say anything about it? Does this song make you think of something else? Then feel free to comment below, on the contact page, or on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube. Please subscribe, follow and share.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...