Just In Time (1998)
Just In Time
Oliver Jones
Justin Time
Oliver Jones has always been compared to his mentor, Oscar Peterson. “But Oliver Jones has created his own piano language,” observes Lorraine Desmarais. “You recognize him right away in his turns of phrase, in his playing that is almost Mozartian, in the way he skims the notes during his improvisations, in the way he is never aggressive. It flows naturally, it is fluid, it is delicate.” Recorded as a trio at the Montreal Bistro in Toronto on November 20 and 21, 1997, with one of Oscar Peterson’s historic double bassists, Canadian Dave Young, this double album contains a piece commissioned by Oliver from his friend Lorraine, Odalisque. “It’s one of those albums that makes you feel like you’re in the club with them,” adds drummer Jim Doxas, who accompanied Mister Jones for a dozen years until his retirement in 2016. “After a year of touring, he said to me, ‘It’s OK, you can call me Oliver.’”
Have Fingers, Will Travel (1997)
Have Fingers, Will Travel
Oliver Jones
Justin Time
“Oliver is a fantastic pianist, he plays at a high level, but by his own admission, he is not Oscar Peterson,” explains Jim Doxas. “The comparison is not fair, because Oscar Peterson was touched by the gods. But what distinguishes Oliver, what is magical, is how everyone in a room, at the end of a show, will have the impression that he has played just for them. I understand the scales and the chords, but that is still a mystery to me.” “And this album swings in a way that testifies to how comfortable he was. I listen to it and I see his big smile,” he continues. “You can really feel the material that he draws from his rhythm section.” Rhythm section in which figured, on double bass, the American Ray Brown, famous for his contribution to the work of Ella Fitzgerald and, once again, Oscar Peterson.
From Lush to Lively (1995)
From Lush to Lively
Oliver Jones
Justin Time
When Lorraine Desmarais met Oliver Jones in the early 1980s, they were both playing cocktail piano on different floors of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Montreal. “On my break, I would go listen to Oliver, and on his break, he would come listen to me. That’s how we formed a great bond.” Few albums evoke the elegance of a luxury hotel bar as much as From Lush to Livelyrecorded with a big band and a string orchestra, under the direction of the important Canadian arranger Rick Wilkins. “The sound is super warm,” says Jim Doxas. “It’s like silk.” Jones puts several compositions by Oscar Peterson to his own hand. “When he was a kid,” recalls Doxas, “Oliver would sit outside Oscar’s house and listen to him play through the window, like a little brother fascinated by what his big brother is doing.”
Extract of Why Think About Tomorrow
Live in Baden Switzerland (2011)
Live in Baden Switzerland
Oliver Jones
Justin Time
Throughout his time with Oliver Jones’ group, Jim Doxas has never received from lists of pieces on the program that night, before a show. “‘How can I have a setlist if I don’t know the energy of the crowd?’ That’s what he would tell us, and I have to admit that it was super stressful at first. He would sometimes play the same pieces night after night,” Doxas recalls, “but in different keys. It always depended on where his hands landed on the piano. He was trying to find a balance between what he wanted to play and what the crowd wanted to hear.” This album recorded in Switzerland in 1990, on which two American jazz greats shine (bassist Reggie Johnson and drummer Ed Thigpen), is also one of Lorraine Desmarais’ favorites. “You can feel that Oliver plays without any filter.”
Extract of Hymn to Freedom
Yuletide Swing (1994)
Yuletide Swing
Oliver Jones
Justin Time
“The word that best describes Oliver Jones is ‘elegance,’ and you can hear all his elegance on this,” Lorraine Desmarais rejoices about this album of holiday classics, one of the rare Christmas records to contain just the right amount of sugar. For Jim Doxas, it was absolutely necessary to seize the pretext of the 90e birthday of his elegant former boss. “We’re lucky that Oliver is still with us, so we thought: why not tell him right away that we love him,” confides the man who came up with the idea for this tribute concert with Celine Peterson, Oscar’s daughter and Oliver’s goddaughter. As for the main person concerned, who should be there on Saturday, he’s keeping fit, assures Doxas, despite his proverbially venerable age. “I went to his place a few weeks ago and we watched a great hour of the US Open golf tournament together.”
Extract of Winter Wonderland
Oliver Jones at 90: A Celebration with FriendsSaturday July 6, 9 p.m., at the Jean-Duceppe Theater
Check out the show page