THE SOUND OF FREEDOM

I've often said that jazz is the sound of freedom, with its fearless ability to move in mercurial fashion between the framework of formal melody and free, formless (and at times abstract) improvisation.

Just this afternoon, I was listening to a new acquisition—Oscar Peterson's solo piano album Tracks—on the supposedly legendary MPS label, famed for its remarkable recording engineers.

Listening to Peterson’s “Just a Gigolo” reminded me that there is rarely music as joyful and free as this. The sheer good-humoured abandon with which the jazz piano maestro plays is like that of a child delighting in the wonder of existence—unburdened by fear, and free from barriers, whether societal or cultural. It’s as if nothing can block his exploration of the keyboard, which here feels like a perfect representation of the man’s soul—seemingly as free as a bird.