Vinyl Vault: “Porgy & Bess” – Oscar Peterson & Joe Pass

The Vinyl Vault on March 5 features a rather unusual album from Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass, “Porgy and Bess.” It’s not unusual that these two great musicians played together or that they would select Gershwin for their material. What’s unusual is that Peterson spent the whole session playing the clavichord, a piano-like instrument dating as far back as 1400 (as in the year 1400). It sounds like a cross between the piano and a harpsichord. Pass played an acoustic guitar throughout to maintain an olde-timey esthetic. As the album title states, the selections are all from the Gershwin opera of the same name. This was purportedly the first time a clavichord was used to play jazz. The album was released in 1976 on Pablo Records.

Check out this unusual, yet most excellent album on the Vinyl Vault with host Geoff Anderson on Tuesday, March 5 at 8:30 pm on KUVO JAZZ.